How The Food World Celebrated Aaron Judge's Historic Home Run
If you're not a baseball fan, you may not have been aware that New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge recently made some serious history. Okay, in the world of baseball statistics, "making history" can mean a lot of things — it seems like during every game broadcast that the announcers will dig up some bit of trivia like hardest-hit ground rule double by a shortstop on a Tuesday in the month of May. Some records, however, are bigger than others, and one of the biggest is that held by the all-time single season home run champion. It shocked the world when the 60 home runs hit by Babe Ruth in 1927 were eclipsed in 1961 by Roger Maris, and Maris' MLB-wide record has in turn been bested by several National League players – Barry Bonds' 71 in 2001 is the current league-wide record (per ESPN). But Maris, alone, has been the all-time American League champ for over 60 years.
Well, Maris' record still stands, but he now shares it with fellow Yankee Judge, who smacked his 61st homer of the season on September 28th, thus cementing his own place in the MLB record books (per MLB). The baseball world (with the possible exception of Red Sox nation and other Yankee haters) was thrilled over Judge's accomplishment, and several big food brands were quick to congratulate him as well.
Ironically, Judge may not even indulge in these products
Pepsi may have been the first big food brand to jump on the Aaron Judge bandwagon, tweeting out, "We'll toast to that home run" shortly after his history-making 61st homer of the season. Just a few minutes behind them was Snickers, tweeting, "someone get this man a snickers ASAP." In their case, though, the candy may have been meant for the fan shown in the attached video clip who tried, but failed, to catch the home run ball — losing out on the chance to make a fortune on eBay.
Neither Pepsi nor Snickers need imagine they'll be recruiting Judge as a product spokesman any time soon, though, or at least not a believable one. Unlike an earlier pinstriped prodigy, he's not much of a junk food junkie. While the "Great Bambino" may have gobbled down hot dogs and swilled soda, Judge is more into healthy eating. Gazelle Nutrition says he preps for the game by blending up a mix of fruit, almond butter, and greens — so maybe Jamba Juice or Smoothie King might have better luck signing this home run hero.