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Benzinga
Benzinga
Business
Chris Katje

Yankees' Aaron Judge Hits A Home Run That Creates A Lifelong Friendship: How It Happened

There might be crying in baseball after all, thanks to a wonderful moment between fans caught on video.

What Happened: The New York Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays Tuesday night with a score of 9-1. The Blue Jays are owned by publicly traded Canadian telecommunications and media company Rogers Communications Inc (NYSE:RCI).

After trailing 1-0, it was a sixth inning home run by Yankees’ Aaron Judge that tied the game and put the Yankees on the path to victory.

The solo home run was hit 427 feet into the stands, where a Blue Jays fan retrieved the ball that hit a step nearby. After a short moment of celebration for the fan, he handed it to a young boy nearby wearing a Judge shirt and Yankees hat.

The young fan immediately hugged the Blue Jays fan, who he likely didn't know.

“Two people who had never met became lifelong friends,” the game announcer said.

The young fan cried and fans around them cheered in the feel good moment that went viral across social media Tuesday night.

The game aired on the YES Network, a Yankees network partially owned by Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Sinclair Broadcast Group (NASDAQ:SBGI). 

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Why It’s Important: The home run came at a pivotal time in the game, as the Yankees struggled against Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah, who retired 15 straight batters through the first five innings. Judge also faced a 0-2 count in his at-bat before pushing the count to 3-2 and hitting the game-tying home run.

Reporters asked Judge about the home run and fan interaction after the game.

“That’s what’s special about this game. It doesn’t matter what jersey you wear. Everybody’s a fan; everybody appreciates the game. That’s pretty cool. I’ve got to check out that video,” Judge said.

The home run by Judge was his ninth of the season through 23 games, which tied him for the Major League lead with teammate Anthony Rizzo.

Judge is batting .303 with nine home runs and 19 RBIs on the season.

The Yankees star won the AL Rookie of the Year and was second in voting for the AL MVP in the 2017 season, when he had a league leading 52 home runs and led the league with 128 runs.

Photo: Courtesy of Minda Haas Kuhlmann on Flickr

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