Yankees’ Aaron Judge continues etching name in MLB’s historybooks

Aaron Judge is not just this generation’s premier slugger, but now he’s one of the game’s greatest.

The New York Yankees’ slugger joined exclusive history on Wednesday night against the Chicago White Sox, bashing home runs No. 50 and 51 in an 8-1 win in the Bronx.

With it, Judge becomes just the fourth player in MLB history to post four separate seasons of 50-plus home runs and the first to do so without the help of steroids since Babe Ruth, who eclipsed the half-century mark in 1920, 1921, 1927, and 1928. Mark McGwire (1996-1999) and Sammy Sosa (1998-2001) are the only other members of the four-man list.

At least for now, the Yankees’ captain isn’t going to dwell on such an accomplishment, which is just the latest in a historic season that has seen him pass Alex Rodriguez, Yogi Berra, and Joe DiMaggio to rise to fourth on the franchise’s all-time home run list.

“I can’t,” Judge said. “If you sit back and admire it, you’re going to stop your momentum. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done. Hopefully, I have a long career here and we do some special things. We can talk about it at the end.”

While there are just four games left in the regular season entering Thursday, the Yankees are still in the thick of a postseason hunt despite clinching a playoff berth on Tuesday night. Their win on Wednesday drew them level with the Toronto Blue Jays for the top spot in the American League East, though the Canadian club owns the tiebreaker.

If the Bronx Bombers do pass Toronto in a last, frenzied dash, they could very well come away with the No. 1 overall seed in the AL, which would guarantee them homefield advantage through the ALCS.

“Walking through here throughout the day, everybody just had a focused, determined look in their eye,” Judge said. “They knew that we punched our ticket into the postseason and have an opportunity to go back to the World Series, but there’s still a greater goal ahead of us in the last couple of games.”