Everyone knows that Aaron Judge is a star of the New York Yankees. But few people know that he is an adopted child – adopted when he was only a few days old. His biological father’s name has never been announced. Throughout his adult years, Judge always avoided mentioning the past.
However, recently, in a surprise interview, Aaron opened up.
“He taught me to hit with my bare hands”
Judge recalled that when he was a 6-year-old boy in a foster home in Linden, California, a homeless man would regularly come to the fence of the small practice field and teach him how to play ball. No one knew who he was, except that he always wore a tattered Yankees cap.
Judge remembers vividly:
“He said if I hit a home run, I would no longer be an abandoned kid – I would be a hero.”
He disappeared one day after giving the boy a small necklace with a wooden Yankees badge engraved with the words: “For my son – Swing for the stars.”
20 years later – a swing for his father
On July 15, during a tense series against the Red Sox, Judge suddenly put the necklace back on. After a long period of hiding it, he said he had discovered the truth: the homeless man was his biological father.
“He chose to stay away so I could have a better life… but he never left.”
In the final at-bat of the day, with the Yankees down 2-4, Judge came to the plate with 2 outs, 2 runners. He bowed his head, touching the pendant.
His next swing was a 3-run home run that shook Yankee Stadium.
A whisper amid the cheers
As he returned to the dugout, Judge whispered to himself:
“Dad, you see… I’m still hitting for you.”
A crowd of people burst into tears outside the stands
After the game, Judge revealed the whole story in a short press conference. Yankees fans across the country created the #ForMyDad trend. MLB retweeted the image of Judge holding the necklace in tears.
Aaron Judge turned a seemingly lost memory into a permanent moment.
“Not all heroes grow up in the light. Some just need a lesson from the darkness… to learn how to shine for a lifetime.”