New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge recalled his phone call with team owner Hal Steinbrenner that finalized his return to the team.
This past offseason was a stressful one for the New York Yankees and the fanbase. That was because they were waiting for a decision from outfielder and 2022 AL MVP Aaron Judge, who entered free agency. Despite the “Arson Judge” scare that made it sound like Judge was heading to the San Francisco Giants. But, the Yankees were able to re-sign Judge on a nine-year, $360 million contract following a phone call from team owner Hal Steinbrenner, who was vacationing in Italy at the time.
During an appearance on Bleacher Report’s “On Base with Mookie Betts,” Judge recalled his phone call with Steinbrenner and how the two finalized the deal.
“It’s like 2-3 o’clock in the morning, and actually I’m hopping onto a call with Hal, basically he was saying ‘Hey, are we going to get this deal done?’ I’m hearing all of these other offers from other teams, I don’t want to go anywhere, I want to stay here. What are we going to do,” said Judge. “He’s like ‘What’s it going to take,’ and I threw out some numbers, and he’s like, ‘Done deal, that’s it?’ I said yeah.”
Aaron Judge reveals he was speechless when Hal Steinbrenner gave him Yankees captaincy
After the two negotiated the deal over the phone, Steinbrenner mentioned how Thurman Munson was his favorite Yankees player growing up and he was Yankees captain. That’s when Steinbrenner offered Judge the Yankees captaincy, a role that hasn’t been held since Derek Jeter’s retirement. Judge spoke about how they made him speechless.
“I was sitting there on speakerphone with my wife and I got chills, I didn’t know what to say,” said Judge. “I felt like I didn’t say anything for like 30 minutes, she’s hitting me like ‘You gotta say something.’ Just hearing him say that and then having the press conference in New York, having Derek [Jeter] there, having Willie Randolph there, two former captains there as well, it was an incredible honor.”
Judge was essentially the unofficial captain in recent years. In 2022, he won the AL MVP and broke Roger Maris’ AL single-season home run record with 62. After that year, he received a brand new lucrative deal and the captaincy.
Steinbrenner does get flak from the fanbase for the team not winning a World Series or making it to the Fall Classic since 2009. But he was commended for making sure that Judge remained a Yankee for the foreseeable future and naming him captain.