Aaron Judge Jersey Number: Explaining why the Yankees superstar wears 99 on his back

Aaron Judge is the most recognizable face in the entire game of baseball. The 6'7 New York Yankees outfielder is known simply for his explosive hitting, but also for his iconic number.

As if Aaron Judge needed to be more distinguishable, he wore one of the rarest jersey numbers in the entire game of baseball. Since no jersey number can exceed two digits, 99 is the highest number that a player can possibly wear.

Interestingly, there is no particular reason why Judge chose to wear the number. According to an interview with NJ.com, Judge wears number 99 because it was the first jersey that was given to him when he reported for Spring Training in 2016.

"Carlos Correa on taking Aaron Judge’s 99 if he left the Yankees." - @ New York Porch Sports

The last New York Yankees player to don the number 99 was relief pitcher Brian Bruney, who played for the team from 2006 to 2009. Speaking about his number in 2017, Judge said:

"They gave it to me in spring training and it just kind of stuck with me a little bit."

According to reports, he also wore it in Triple-A.

2022 was the year that Judge's name became immortalized. He hit 62 home runs - with his last home run coming against the Texas Rangers in the final series of the season. With the final blast of the year, he made history.

Although players like Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire exceeded 62 home runs, their records were largely discounted due to their past usage of performance-enhancing drugs.

This meant that before Judge, Roger Maris held the record for most home runs after hitting 61 with the team during the 1961 season. Maris' son, Roger Jr., was in attendance with Judge's parents when he hit his 62nd home run of the 2022 season.

"He's the Captain now! Aaron Judge is officially the 16th Captain in Yankees history." - @ MLB

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Aaron Judge and number 99 are immortalized in MLB, Yankees history

After his historic season, Judge was awarded the AL MVP Award, beating out Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani, who was the defending champion. Months later, Judge signed a 9-year, $360 million deal with the Yankees, making him the highest-paid position player in baseball history.

He was also named as the 2023 Yankees captain, the first player to hold the title since Derek Jeter retired after the 2014 season.