When Willie Randolph strolled into the press room at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday, it served as a hint that the day’s news conference was for more than just Aaron Judge’s new contract.
And when Derek Jeter joined Judge on a crowded dais, the impending news became obvious before Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner could announce it.
With Judge’s nine-year, $360 million contract formalized Wednesday, the Yankees went one step further, naming Judge as the 16th team captain in franchise history.
Randolph and Jeter, both of whom previously held the title of team captain, were joined at the event by General Manager Brian Cashman and Manager Aaron Boone, as well as Judge’s wife, Samantha, and his agent, Page Odle. The Yankees executives Lonn Trost and Randy Levine were also in attendance, as was Steinbrenner.
“This is an incredible honor that I don’t take lightly,” Judge said. “I’m gonna continue to try to be the same leader that I’ve been the past six years, continue to lead by example. I know there’s probably going to be a couple more responsibilities with this, but I’m here to embrace every single obstacle and continue to lead this team and lead this city to not one but multiple championships down the road.”
Judge’s new contract, the largest signed this off-season, largely took a back seat to his new title as dozens of media members packed into Yankee Stadium. But both Judge, who won the A.L.’s Most Valuable Player Award after a 62-homer season, and Steinbrenner said that Judge’s decision to stay in New York — rather than return to Judge’s native California with the San Francisco Giants or the San Diego Padres — came down to the final year in his contract.
“It was apparent to me that the ninth year was very important to him,” Steinbrenner said, recalling a 3 a.m. Eastern phone call he had with Judge while on vacation in Italy. “It was certainly a possibility, I knew sitting there at the time, that somebody had gone more than eight years.”
Judge, meanwhile, discussed a desire to play into his 40s, and to hopefully do so in pinstripes. The slugger, who broke Roger Maris’s A.L. single-season record for home runs in his finest season to date, will be 39 when his pact ends in 2031.
“It is a rare occurrence to be in a position to sign, draft, develop and ultimately retain a player throughout his entire career,” Cashman said. “This is another example of the Steinbrenner family stepping up to retain a great player in Aaron Judge, as well as a great player wanting to be here and stay here. And it’s not an easy task when there’s a lot of great opportunities that exist elsewhere.”
The captaincy, while newly official, won’t change too much for Judge. A largely ceremonial position — he was already considered the leader among Yankees players — it has carried significance over the years, both because of the Yankees’ status as Major League Baseball’s most successful franchise and because of the previous players who held the job.
“I don’t really look at it as a new role. I’m just going off of my own experience. When The Boss called me, he said, ‘Don’t change anything,’” Jeter said, referring to George Steinbrenner’s decision to name the former shortstop captain in 2003. “It’s not like you just flip a switch and you have to be someone else because you’ve been given his title.”
The franchise’s first captain was Clark Griffith, a pitcher who was a player-manager for the team starting in 1903, when it was still known as the Highlanders. Several other players, including Babe Ruth, took turns in the role in subsequent years, with Lou Gehrig famously being captain from 1935 until his untimely retirement for health reasons in 1939.
The Yankees did not have a captain from Gehrig’s retirement until catcher Thurman Munson was given the job in 1976. Munson died in a plane crash in 1979. In the years since, the job has been held at various times by third baseman Graig Nettles, pitcher Ron Guidry (who shared the job with Randolph, a second baseman), first baseman Don Mattingly and, most recently, Jeter, who retired after the 2014 season.
“Getting the chance to be the captain of the Yankees now, it goes without saying what an honor that is,” Judge said before showing off his knowledge of pinstriped history. “I look back at the list of Thurman Munson, Lou Gehrig, Ron Guidry, Willie Randolph, Derek Jeter, Don Mattingly; that’s a pretty good list right there. Not only great baseball players, but great ambassadors of the game and great ambassadors of the New York Yankees.”
Judge’s captaincy will surely be celebrated within the Yankees’ locker room.
Boone raved about Judge’s leadership on Wednesday.
“He’s sort of been our captain and certainly developing into that over the last several seasons,” Boone said. Meanwhile, Yankees players, including Anthony Rizzo and Nestor Cortes, have championed the cause.
“I think I’m able to say that if he’s back here next year, he’s our captain, he’s the next captain,” Cortes said before Game 3 of the American League Championship Series. “We follow everything he does. He leads by example. He’s not really a guy that comes out and screams at anybody. But if he has to, that’s his job. I think he’s earned that right to keep us in check. What allows him to be so great, I feel like, is he’s a great baseball player, but he’s a better human. He treats everybody the same. He follows up on everybody every day. That’s what allows him to be who he is.”
Cortes and other teammates officially got their wish Wednesday, even if a formal announcement was not required in their eyes. But don’t expect any further signifier that nods to Judge’s new job, like the letter “C” on his No. 99 jersey.
“We don’t do that here,” Judge said, a smile on his face.
