The biggest story by far in Major League Baseball this season is being authored by a young black man that wears the New York Yankees pinstripes, blasts tape-measure home runs and has graced the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Folks, here come da judge – outfielder Aaron Judge.
Judge, 25, was hitting an AL-leading .347 with 22 home runs and 49 RBIs after Monday’s 5-3 road win over the Los Angeles Angels. Judge homered late in that game to the delight of his parents, Wayne and Patty Judge, who were in the stands. The Judges adopted him a day after his birth.
He has not spoken publicly regarding his race, but he apparently identifies himself as African-American for the annual Society of American Baseball Research (SABR) compilation of black players. ESPN’s “The Undefeated” website also lists Judge as one of MLB’s black players.
He was in elementary school when he asked his white parents about his heritage.
“I think it was like, ‘I don’t look like you, mom. I don’t look like you, dad. Like, what’s going on here?’” Judge told mlb.com.
“They just kind of told me I was adopted. I was like, ‘OK, that’s fine with me. You’re still my mom, the only mom I know. You’re still my dad, the only dad I know.’
“Nothing really changed. I honestly can’t even remember too much, because it wasn’t that big of a deal. They just told me I was adopted, and I said, ‘OK, can I go outside and play?’”
To the delight of fans of all colors last Sunday, Judge blasted a 495-foot home run against the Baltimore Orioles in a 14-3 win in Yankees Stadium. “The Judge’s Chambers,” a section of seats where fans don robes and wave gavels, was delirious.
That homer led to Judge being named AL Player of the Week after batting .500 (12-for-24) with three homers and six RBIs in six games. He is the first rookie to be the first player to reach 20 homers in a season, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
Retired superstar Reggie Jackson told the New York Post last week, “I’d trade my past for his future.”
That says a whole lot in very few words.
Judge the All-Star teams
Judge’s rookie exploits have also made him the leading vote-getter in All-Star Game balloting – by more than 300,000 votes.
When Tuesday’s tabulation was released, Judge had almost 1.9 million votes, topping Mike Trout at about 1.6 million.
Trout suffered a torn finger ligament and will still be on the disabled list when the game is played on July 11 in Miami. As a result, the AL has a chance to have an African-American starting outfield with Judge being joined by George Springer of the Houston Astros and Michael Brantley of the Cleveland Indians.
Mookie Betts of the Boston Red Sox, another black outfielder, is fifth in votes and could be a starter or named to the squad, as well.
The National League would have one black starter if voting closed this week.
Backed by votes online and fans at perennially sold-out Wrigley Field, Jason Heyward is third in outfielder voting behind vote leader Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals and Charlie Blackmon of the Colorado Rockies.
Heyward has a decent batting average at .258, with five home runs and 27 RBI – and the slimmest lead among players currently holding starting spots. He was just 58,000 votes ahead of teammate Ben Zobrist, and Heyward might not make the team if he isn’t voted in by fans.
Matt Kemp of the Atlanta Braves is fifth in outfielder balloting, and he likely will be his team’s representative on the NL squad. In a remarkable comeback season, Kemp is batting .327 with 11 home runs and 32 RBI.
Only 7.7 percent of MLB players are black, and that is reflected in the absence of African-American All-Stars. In the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, black players easily comprised more than half of the respective All-Star teams.
Speaking of Kemp, he is doing his part in creating young black fans – and possibly future Major Leaguers.
Kemp was host of a Junior Braves RBI camp at Samuel L. Jones Boys & Girls Club in Atlanta last week, and he told the Marietta (Ga.) Journal the lack of blacks in baseball begins with low participation. He was inspired by working with about 150 black children from ages 9-12 at the camp.
“Some of these kids’ dream is to play baseball,” Kemp said.
“A lot of them play football and basketball, but baseball gives you the same opportunities to go to school and provide for your family.”
Campers worked on hitting, base running, throwing and fielding while Kemp gave instructions.
“It was really cool to see him interact with the kids and actually be in the drills taking ground balls and showing some hitting and throwing skills he had,” said Aaron Quinney, Boys & Girls Club regional youth development specialist.
“It’s really good, because we are really pushing for our inner-city kids to be involved in baseball, and I know that is a passion of Matt’s as well.”
Blacks at top of draft
Last week I wrote I hoped that prospect Hunter Greene would be drafted by the Cincinnati Reds and that wish came true.
What surprised many baseball followers was the Minnesota Twins selecting Royce Lewis, a California shortstop whose father is black, with the first overall pick.
Jo Adell went 10th to the Los Angeles Angels. Jeren Kendall (Los Angeles Dodgers) and Bubba Thompson (Texas Rangers), were also first-round draft picks. MLB statistics show that two-thirds of first-round picks reach the Majors.
Jeff Passan of YAHOO Sports wrote this week that more than 20 percent of first-round picks have been black over the past five years.
However, it is rare for the top two picks to be African American. It has happened just four times. Lewis and Greene join Darryl Strawberry and Garry Harris (1980), Brien Taylor and Mike Kelly (1991) and 2003 Delmon Young and Rickie Weeks (2003).
Passan said this year’s draft “reminds anyone skeptical of baseball’s ability to enthrall young blacks that despite its average demographic of Social Security-aged white male, the sport can be every bit as absorbing as its rivals that steal away young talent.
“This is why it’s fair to classify it as a problem. Anyone who believes it isn’t must believe similarly that decades of waning interest from any race, ethnicity or faith wouldn’t qualify as one, either. The standard line of thinking from such troglodytes — You don’t see me complaining about the lack of white players in the NBA — entirely misses the point. It’s not fundamentally about the lack of black players in baseball. It’s that so many aren’t interested in playing in the first place.”
Alvin A. Reid is a panelist on the Nine Network program, Donnybrook and appears on ABC’s The Allman Report and several sports radio shows, including Frank Cusumano’s “The Press Box” on KFNS. His Twitter handle is #aareid1
