Aaron Judge is already a Hall of Fame player, that much is certain. The New York Yankees veteran has proven himself to be every bit the superstar that fans thought him to be when he won the unanimous Rookie of the Year award in 2017.
Judge may not have a World Series ring yet, like so many eye-catching Yankees stars before him, but he’s racked up both the numbers and the hardware to be recognized as a franchise player. As with his predecessor, Derek Jeter, however, there has been some confusion about Judge’s ethnicity.
Read on to learn what Judge’s ethnic makeup is, and how the Yankees slugger identifies when he’s not crushing baseballs as far as the eye can see.
Aaron Judge identifies as biracial
Judge was adopted the day after he was born on April 27, 1992. According to Distractify, the slugger is a biracial man with Caucasian and African American ancestry. The exact make up of his family tree is unclear to both the public and Judge.
The Yankees superstar does not know his biological parents, and is therefore unsure of their respective ethnic backgrounds. He has, however, spoken out against racial injustice towards African Americans. In 2020, Judge posted a photo of himself on Instagram with the caption:
We are BLACK MEN!! We build and lift each other up!! Together we are better, together we are strong! We need to continue to stand TOGETHER to create a better future for generations to come!
Major League Baseball (MLB) also spotlighted Judge during Black History Month in 2022.
Judge supports the Black Lives Matter movement
Judge was one of several Yankees players who kneeled during the National Anthem during a 2020 series against the Washington Nationals. Judge also wore a Black Lives Matter jersey during batting practice, and clarified his stance on the movement during a press conference.
“As a team, we made a united decision to kneel right before the anthem,” Judge explained. “There’s a lot of injustice in this world and a lot of bad things going on. We just wanted to show that we’re aware of it and start the conversation and start the change.”
Judge also wore a piece of black cloth on his jersey as a tribute to George Floyd, who was killed as a result of police brutality.