Aaron Judge had one heck of an All-Star Break, winning adoration and breaking hearts (we can only assumed) with an amazing display of strength in the Home Run Derby. He may have gone oh-fer in the All-Star Game itself, but the good news is no one truly cares about that game and it only matters now when Bryce Harper spontaneously recreates a scene from Magic Mike XXL in the outfield.
Aaron Judge is well on his way to being MLB’s next cash cow
His All-Star jersey sales prove it.
Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
Besides his prowess at the plate and thus final evolution into a Dingachu, Aaron Judge also did big things for Major League Baseball’s bottom line and allowed the league to fantasize about what it will be like once he firmly takes his place as one of their top stars over the next few years.
According to a few stats released by the league, Judge walked away with not only the Derby crown but some pretty magnificent jersey sales. Jersey sales for All-Star Game festivities as a whole were up 42% year-over-year and the league has credited that specifically to Judge’s influence.
That might seem like a specious conclusion until you look at some of the more particular details of his sales, where the league claims he had the most popular batting practice jersey of any All-Star Game in the last decade - remarkable sales which only further doubled after he vanquished his competition in the Dinger Colosseum. On top of that, he had the most popular uniform jersey and the most searched term on the official MLB website was “Judge-related.”
Even taking the descriptor “Judge-related” with a grain of salt - that could just mean Yankees-related or the name Aaron or people who wear the number 99 which is unfair to Hyun-Jin Ryu - these numbers are an early look at a world where Judge jerseys are flying off the shelves and little kids in Oklahoma are rooting for him from a timezone away. Which isn’t a bad future necessarily, just one where once again a Yankees star is the toast of the league instead of someone from a smaller market.
Times change, things stay the same. Especially when it comes to the Yankees minting stars.
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