As the 2024 American League MVP Award is set to be announced, there’s no question that New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge will take home the hardware for the second time in his career. Judge’s historic season saw him crush 58 home runs, post the highest single-season WAR for a Yankee since 1957, and hit a mind-boggling .403 with 26 homers over a 50-game stretch. But as we reflect on this epic performance, one can’t help but wonder: Is Aaron Judge the greatest pure home run hitter of all time?
Putting Judge’s Power in Perspective
To determine where Judge ranks among the most prodigious power hitters in MLB history, we need to put his numbers in context. Judge doesn’t hold the single-season or career home run records, but when he’s in the lineup, nobody hits homers at a higher rate. The 6’7″ behemoth averages a staggering 51 home runs per 162 games played, outpacing legendary sluggers like:
- Babe Ruth (46 HR per 162 games)
- Barry Bonds (41)
- Hank Aaron (37)
- Albert Pujols (37)
- Alex Rodriguez (41)
The only other player in Judge’s stratosphere is Mark McGwire, who averaged 50 homers per 162 contests. But it’s important to note the differences in eras. Judge is putting up these incredible power numbers against the deepest and most talented pitching pool in baseball history, featuring high-octane velocity, wipeout breaking balls, and a never-ending parade of flame-throwing relievers.
Facing a Wider Variety of Arms
Not only is Judge squaring off against superior stuff, he’s also facing a much larger assortment of pitchers over the course of a season compared to yesteryear’s stars. In 2024, Judge battled a whopping 301 different hurlers. By comparison:
- Ruth faced 64 pitchers in his 60-homer season in 1927
- Aaron saw 89 in his 44-HR campaign in 1957
- Bonds went up against 205 during his record 73-HR year in 2001
This constant turnover makes it tougher for hitters to get comfortable, yet Judge keeps on mashing. He also doesn’t get the benefit of facing tired starters a third or fourth time as often as players of the past. Those familiar looks allowed legends like Ruth to absolutely feast in their third and fourth plate appearances against a pitcher in the same game.
Comparing Judge to All-Time Greats
So how does Judge ultimately stack up against the most feared sluggers ever? Any conversation obviously starts with Ruth, the original Sultan of Swat. The Babe’s sheer dominance over his peers remains unmatched – in some seasons he out-homered entire teams by himself. And while we can only speculate how he would’ve handled today’s fire-ballers, Ruth did hit well against the hardest throwers of his time like Lefty Grove and Walter Johnson.
As for Bonds and McGwire, their sensational home run rates come with the caveat of performance-enhancing drug use that clouds their standings in the record books. Judge has put up comparable power numbers without any such asterisks.
All-time greats like Aaron, Pujols, and Alex Rodriguez were unbelievable home run hitters, but even they can’t quite match Judge’s blistering homer-to-at-bat ratio.
An underrated contender for the pure power hitting crown? Mike Schmidt. The Phillies third baseman led his league in home runs eight times and did it mostly in the cavernous, pitcher-friendly stadiums of the 1970s and 80s. He homered 2.88 times more often than the average hitter of his era, an even higher ratio than Judge.
We also can’t overlook Josh Gibson, the Negro Leagues legend who was said to hit 800 home runs over his tragically short 17-year career and was known for tape-measure shots that rivaled any by Ruth, Judge, or McGwire. With the incomplete statistics we have from his playing days, it’s impossible to know exactly how he compares, but Gibson clearly belongs in the GOAT conversation.
The Verdict
In the end, it feels like this mythical title comes down to Ruth and Judge – two larger-than-life Yankees with unrivaled power. We can only imagine how each would fare in the other’s era. But here’s the key difference that gives Judge the slight edge in my book: He’s putting up Ruth-like numbers against far superior competition in the most challenging environment for hitters the game has ever seen.
Maybe it’s foolish to try to determine who the best pure home run hitter ever is with all the variables to consider, but it’s hard not to reach this conclusion as the AL MVP is handed out tonight: Aaron Judge is the greatest home run hitter of all time.
A baseball historian and statistician familiar with the analysis
Judge, still just 32, may have more epic seasons ahead to solidify his claim to this throne. But as of today, taking into account the frequency and impressiveness of his homers against the unparalleled pitching he faces, Judge has made as strong a case as anyone in baseball history to be called the ultimate home run hitter.
