Yankees' Aaron Judge has been a welcoming presence
Aaron Judge and former Yankees teammate JP Sears, inset, now with the Athletics.
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Aaron Judge acted like a team captain well before owner Hal Steinbrenner officially gave him the title after the outfielder signed his nine-year, $364 million free-agent contract in December 2022.
A legion of non-roster invitees to spring training over the years have stories of their first nervous days in camp — simply trying to fit in and get a lay of the land — sensing a looming presence nearby, looking up and seeing Judge, hand extended, offering a warm “I’m Aaron Judge. Welcome to the Yankees.”
It was something Judge himself experienced when, about a week after being drafted in 2013, he was invited by the organization to take batting practice before a game against the A’s at the Oakland Coliseum. The then-21-year-old, trying his best to stay out of the way of the big-leaguers coming in and out of the clubhouse, had future Hall of Famer CC Sabathia approach him with a similar welcome. Sabathia then asked the young outfielder, who like the former Yankees lefthander is a Bay Area native, to eat a pregame meal with him.
Reliever Jimmy Cordero, a non-roster invitee in 2023, said then of his reaction to Judge’s greeting: “Uh, I know who you are.”
That’s pretty much what Judge said to Sabathia.
There are many more stories than that, and A’s lefthander JP Sears, who came up with the Yankees and started Saturday afternoon’s game against the team that made him an 11th-round draft pick in 2017, has one of the best.
Allow Sears, dealt to the A’s at the 2022 trade deadline in the ill-fated Frankie Montas deal, to take it from there.
“Two days after I found out I made the team in ’22, we were flying from Tampa to New York to get ready for Opening Day and he texted me that night and was like, ‘Hey, if you’re not busy, I got a reservation for you and your family at Don Angie if you want to go,’ ” Sears — who allowed one of Judge’s two solo homers on Saturday — recalled Friday in the Athletics’ clubhouse.
Don Angie is an immensely popular, hard-to-get-into Italian restaurant on Greenwich Avenue in the West Village.
The taken-aback Sears, whose parents were joining him in New York from their home in South Carolina in advance of Opening Day, replied to Judge: “Wow, that’s great.”
“He just set up everything for me,” Sears said. “I didn’t have to really plan anything and just showed up. And then he ended up showing up at the end of the meal and paid for it all and introduced himself to my family.”
The gesture remains fresh in Sears’ mind.
“He was just an ultimate leader and just someone that I felt like I already was comfortable around,” Sears said. “He’s the captain of one of the biggest sports franchises. To me, I always just thought it was such a big deal. He’s always been such a nice guy to me and other guys. Obviously, someone to look up to.”
Extra bases
Before Saturday’s game, manager Aaron Boone said it’s “possible” that infielder DJ LeMahieu, in the second week of a minor-league rehab assignment, will be in uniform by Monday when the Yankees start a three-game series against the Mariners in Seattle. LeMahieu started the season on the injured list with the left calf strain he suffered in his first game of spring training . . . The Yankees have not named a starter yet for Sunday’s series finale, but the expectation is that it will be long man Ryan Yarbrough, already with a spot start under his belt.
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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