Aaron Judge – By Jon Schwartz

Opening the Perfect Present

(This story originally appeared in the May 2021 edition of Yankees Magazine.)

Six months later, it’s weird to look back on Opening Day; I had already forgotten that there were just 10,000 fans at Yankee Stadium that day. But the thing is, even that was amazing at the time. After a deeply upsetting year, least of all for baseball reasons, it was completely amazing to be back at Yankee Stadium, listening to real fans have real conversations and real cheers. The “roll call” was incredible.

I chose to write this story backwards for two reasons: First, it’s not super fun to build up to an eventual loss in a publication like Yankees Magazine. It’s not that often I write about a single game for a long, 3,000-plus-word feature, but it’s even less common for me to write about a loss. So since I wasn’t going to climax with some sort of dramatic victory, it made sense to get rid of that fact early.

But I also loved the emotion from the line that I chose to end with, the idea of welcoming fans back to Yankee Stadium. I think that the was the 118th season in Yankees history, so there have been plenty of Opening Days. But I’m not sure there has ever been one like 2021. There certainly hasn’t been anything like a return to baseball after a year spent playing in front of empty seats. So this year’s curtain-raiser was always going to be special, no matter what happened on the field.

There’s baseball in here, sure. There’s a Gerrit Cole start, a Gary Sánchez rebirth, some fun during pregame introductions. But that’s stuff that we can get at any game. The truest joy in here is just writing about baseball, about baseball fans, and about a somewhat normal day at the ballpark.

https://www.mlb.com/news/yankees-magazine-2021-opening-day-recap

Call to Action

(This story originally appeared in the April 2021 edition of Yankees Magazine.)

Man is Giancarlo Stanton fascinating. He’s always going to be a lightning rod for Yankees fans, partly because of his stances on issues such as Black Lives Matter, his decision to kneel for the national anthem at times in 2020 and for the fact that some fans are just ignorant. I think a huge part of it, though, is that he makes home runs look so easy that fans forget to marvel at what he does do rather than gripe about what he doesn’t do.

In the 2020 postseason, despite the upsetting ending for Yankees fans, Stanton was a monster. This story, which I wrote during the offseason, focused on that remarkable performance in the spotlight, but I also looked at the ways that Stanton found his voice during the difficult summer of 2020. A guy who preferred to keep quiet and speak with his bat for his first few years in pinstripes, suddenly Stanton was speaking out about racial injustice, using his megaphone to force people to reckon with the Black experience in America. It was a remarkable turnaround, and as impressive to watch as it was frustrating to know all the reasons that it was necessary.

I doubt that Stanton unburdening himself of all that he has dealt with is the reason that he spent 2021 hitting the absolute cover off the ball — likely, that happened because Stanton has always been an extraordinary batter, almost assuredly the hardest hitter in MLB history. But it’s nice to see a player find his voice.

This was an incredibly racially charged story, one I was nervous was going to be killed by some higher-up before it could be published. We did get a letter in response; it didn’t mention Stanton by name, but it was addressed to Yankees Magazine, and it said that the writer wanted to cancel his subscription because some ungrateful players don’t respect this country or the fans who love America. I’m just guessing it was about this story, and not about, say, Whitey Ford. Oh well. We won’t miss that reader. But for the people who look to players such as Giancarlo Stanton to learn more about experiences they will never have, I’m grateful I got to write this, grateful it got published, and grateful that Stanton seems to have found a peace that he was seeking.

https://www.mlb.com/news/yankees-magazine-giancarlo-stanton

A New Path Forward

(This story originally appeared in the August 2020 edition of Yankees Magazine.)

It’s hard to explain how weird it is to be writing about baseball right now. The diversions I’ve taken in the past few months to writing music stories … those have just been so much easier. I’m not even totally sure about why — after all, one of the stories I wrote was about going to three concerts in London days before the world shut down due to COVID-19. I’m not sure that was any more responsible than a baseball game; in fact, it was certainly more dangerous.

But there’s the obvious fact that for a lot of us, the idea of baseball (or any American sports) coming back when the tri-state area was exploding in March and April was as some future reward for good behavior. If we stayed home like we were told, and if we did everything we could to let the virus run its course, we could get our normal lives back.

Instead, the situation today is objectively worse than it was even when the hospitals in New York City were overflowing. But here we are. If you can’t tell, I’m not thrilled about any of this, and it has felt really dirty these last few weeks to be putting out a magazine, even before Juan Soto tested positive on the day of the opener. You almost want it to rain, a feeling I’ve never before had on Opening Day. So it goes.

Anyhow!

My job demands that I enthusiastically welcome the return of the game that I do truly love. And I’m going to watch this season, cheering on some great stories, closely watching a Yankees team that should be legitimately special. So when I was assigned a story about the months that have led up to baseball returning, I didn’t want to go all Debbie Downer and pour cold water on everyone’s plans. Instead, I tried to look at some things we might not have been looking at that were going on while we should have been playing baseball.

For example, I spoke to YES Network executives about running a sports network without sports. I spoke to a minor league marketing executive about marketing a league that doesn’t really exist this year. I chatted with players about using their time away to protest and support the Black Lives Matter movement, and I spoke to another guy on the team about playing video games semi-professionally in the interim.

Like I’ve said, none of this is going to be easy. Maybe we should be playing, maybe we shouldn’t. But the fact is, we are. So we might as well enjoy it, because, for better — or more likely, for worse — baseball is back. Finally.

https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/yankees-magazine-2020-season-begins

Aaron Everlasting

(This story is from Yankees Magazine Online)

This one came out of nowhere. I was planning on traveling to Las Vegas for a conference, and because I was going two-thirds of the way across the country, and because a co-worker had a sudden conflict arise, my editor suggested that I follow up the Vegas trip by checking out an Aaron Judge All Rise Foundation event in Fresno, California. Obviously, I wasn’t about to say no to that.

Since I was heading out there with a few days to spare, I somehow convinced Aaron’s people to let me go to the fundraising dinner they were holding, then spent some time at Fresno State’s football game two nights later, where they honored Judge on the field. In between, I used some downtime to check out Yosemite National Park.

The story that I eventually wrote came out a lot of confusion I was feeling throughout my time in Fresno. The events were … small? I don’t mean that in a negative way, and I think it’s probably a function of my New York–area mentality that I even bumped against it. But the fundraiser didn’t have any media, didn’t have any celebrities. It certainly could have. If Judge had allowed the media inside (or even outside), plenty of reporters would have jumped at the chance. I was there almost by accident.

In spending time around the family, and with Aaron’s agent, what became very clear was that this was by design. It’s not that they don’t have big goals for the foundation, it’s just that they want to honor those who have been with them from the start. What they seem to be saying is that there will come time for the massive events. For now, though, better to reward those who have been loyal. It was blindingly obvious as I watched Aaron chatting with his former college teammates that it just doesn’t cross his mind that there might be some distance between them, some difference in where the world has taken them. That’s remarkable, and it’s a skill!

Aaron’s family is insistent on loyalty, almost fanatically so. And as you talk to his parents, Patty and Wayne, and watch them interact with people, you can see how Aaron became the way he is, the standup superstar in New York, the humble megastar.

I really tried to show that side of him, and the way he got where he is. Largely, what I saw was that he is who he has always been, in a good way. I hope you’ll read and enjoy.

https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/aaron-judge-is-always-consistent?t=yankees-magazine

Let It Be

(This story originally appeared in the April 2019 edition of Yankees Magazine.)

Guys like Clint Frazier fascinate me. Sure, there’s the simple baseball talent. But I’m always drawn to polarizing figures in sports, trying to figure out what exactly makes them so complicated. So I definitely approached this feature on Clint Frazier with a bias in his direction.

Because here’s the thing with Frazier. Everyone has such an easy time talking about the ways that the’s not living up to some part of the game’s code, the rules passed down from Abner Doubleday to Babe Ruth to Mickey Mantle to Derek Jeter. He needs to carry himself differently. He needs to stop making everything about himself. He needs to just shut up.

And yet, anytime you ask the obviously follow-up question — what has he actually done in defiance of those rules? — you get silence. There’s the simple answer, that he had hair that was too long and flashy, and that he expressed some reticence to cut it. But does anyone really care about that? Does anyone actually think that the wildly outdated grooming policy is a good thing? Frazier cut his hair like he was supposed to. Does it really matter that he wasn’t thrilled about it?

A couple of points about this piece: in the quotes I used and the ways that I framed them, I really had to hold in my frustration with the conversation I had with Nick Swisher. I went to talk to him because I figured he would probably be someone to share my irritation with everyone’s overheated takes on Frazier. Instead, I listened as Swisher went on and on about Frazier needing to rein it all in, that he can’t act the way he does. I tried to get him to explain what he meant, but Swisher just kept giving me the rote nonsense.

Conversely, Clint was interesting and willing to engage with all of my questions, even if it might seem weird to have to explain to a reporter why everyone has an opinion about you, and why it’s not necessarily OK. I’ve had plenty of chats with Frazier over the years, but this was probably the deepest we went together. I enjoyed it, and I really think that by the time the season’s over, he’s going to be playing a big role in the Bronx.

Hope you’ll enjoy.

https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/healthy-frazier-ready-to-bring-energy-to-yankees?t=yankees-magazine

Heat Check

(This story originally appeared in the June 2018 issue of Yankees Magazine.)

I’ve wanted to write about fastballs for a while, and the Yankees make for good subjects. In Aroldis Chapman, they have the hardest thrower in MLB history. Luis Severino throws harder, more consistently, than any other starter in the game. So I wanted to answer a question with this story: What does all that speed actually add up to?

The fact is, every pitcher in today’s game is throwing gas. You just don’t see the “crafty lefty” all that much anymore, nor are there really any more knuckleballers coming up. The fact is, if you want to hit in the majors these days, you’d better be able to handle the heat.

So this story looks at how the speed works. What’s the difference between 90 mph and 100 mph? Austin Romine says that it all just feels fast once it gets above 95, but what does that difference actually mean? How do hitters time pitches that come in faster than they can blink?

Chapman’s past makes him hard for me to write about, so I’m happy that this didn’t turn into a simple profile of the guy, or any kind of celebration. I used his (for obvious reasons) as a jumping-off point, a way to tell the story about the incredible fastballs that have taken over today’s game.

Hope you’ll read and enjoy.

https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/aroldis-chapman-leads-charge-for-flamethrowers/c-279908136

Open Season

(This story originally appeared in the May 2018 issue of Yankees Magazine.)

While I do travel quite a bit for stories, it’s pretty rare for me to actually join the team on the road during the season. Off the top of my head, I can think of two times since I started at Yankees Magazine that I reported on actual road games — the first was for my feature on Joe Girardi at the end of 2017, and the other was Opening Day 2018.

Something about the start of this season just felt important to me. Obviously, the Yankees had come so close in 2017, falling one game short of the World Series. And this was to be the first game for new manager Aaron Boone, as well as Giancarlo Stanton’s debut with the team. Plus, in the back of my head there was this sense that in the event this season turned out to be as special as Yankees fans and players were hoping, we should be there to document its first breaths.

So I flew to Toronto for a couple of days to watch the team work out for a last time in the preseason, then get things started the next day. The first couple weeks of April didn’t go so according to plan, but that first game sure did. Two homers from Stanton. An exceptional start by Severino. Handshakes to close things out.

We had fun covering the newness all around us; at times, it seemed like Boone had no idea what to do with his hands. He was so fidgety, constantly holding a bat or a ball. I tried to get all of my observations into the piece.

To keep the opening theme going, I also wrote about the curtain raising in the Bronx, even as it was delayed by a day due to snow. Once they got to play, it was Didi Gregorius leading the way, with a team-record 8 RBI from the shortstop position. Quite a debut, the first moments of what everyone hoped would be a truly special season.

Hope you’ll read and enjoy.

60-70 OPENING DAY FEATURE

Rise Up

(This story originally appeared in the August 2017 edition of Yankees Magazine.)

Right when the season started, I penciled in this trip to Miami. I had a feeling that Aaron Judge was made for an event such as the Home Run Derby, and I had to see it first-hand.

Remember, at the time, Judge was coming off a big-league debut that saw him hit just four homers in 84 at-bats, but the guy is so big and so powerful that it was obvious he was going to hit. I definitely don’t consider myself some sort of genius for figuring that it might be worth checking out.

That said, it obviously paid off. I’ve been to the Home Run Derby seven times now, and it’s hard to express just how much MLB improved the event with the new rules that were introduced a few years ago (this was my first time seeing the new format in person). The four-minute rounds are dramatic. They’re fun. They are — when you’re in town to write a story about a guy who is in danger of not advancing out of the first round — kind of agonizing.

My story is about Judge’s incredible performance, but it also tries to make sense of this larger-than-life character who seems to prefer to blend into the background wherever possible. I tried to figure out how he feels about all the attention and intrigue of the first half, and how his life has colored his perspective. Judge is a great guy, extremely friendly and kind, but it’s nearly impossible to get him to talk about himself. So I tried to piece the puzzle together myself. How does he do it? He’s not saying.

In between, I tried to get in some fun anecdotes from the weekend, such as the balls off the roof, the opposite-field shots, and the general excitement in Marlins Park. Hope you enjoy.

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Source: Aaron Judge dazzled in All-Star Game, Derby | MLB.com