Was Aaron Judge cheating when he cast a quick glance to his right before slamming a mammoth 462-foot home run to dead center Monday night in Toronto?
The uncanny timing of the blast, aided by close-up television replays and some questioning commentary by Blue Jays television announcers Dan Schulman and Buck Martinez certainly made for some interesting postgame discussion.
Just moments before Judge’s second home run of the game, Yankees manager Aaron Boone was ejected for arguing a called strike on his 6-foot-7 slugger. Judge said his sneak peek was in response to ‘a lot of chirping from our dugout’ while he was in the batter’s box.
‘I said a couple things to some guys in the dugout and especially after the game,’ Judge said. ‘Hopefully, it won’t happen again.’
While Judge may have hoped to put a lid on any controversy, the Blue Jays weren’t as willing to put the incident behind them.
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Toronto manager John Schneider acknowledged seeing video of Judge, calling it “kind of odd,’ according to The Athletic, and concluding that ‘he’s obviously looking somewhere besides the pitcher for a reason.’
It’s possible Jays reliever Jay Jackson was tipping his pitches or catcher Alejandro Kirk was setting up so the Yankees could see what pitches he was calling. Schneider said the team would take a closer look at potentially closing those loopholes before Tuesday’s game.
Aaron Judge ‘not happy’ about cheater label, MLB in contact with Blue Jays and Yankees
Judge spoke with reporters before Tuesday night’s game in Toronto, adding he didn’t appreciate the comments made by the Blue Jays and its broadcast team.
‘I’ve got some choice words about that, but I’m just going to keep that off the record,’ Judge said, according to the Associated Press. “I’m not happy about it, but people can say what they want,
‘I’ve still got a game to play, I’ve got things I’ve got to do. I told you guys what happened and everybody else can make their own story about it if they want.”
Schneider revealed his team reached out to MLB about the positioning of New York’s base coaches, and commissioner’s office told Toronto it was aware of Monday’s situation. Schneider added it’s up to his team to make sure they aren’t tipping pitches, and he didn’t think much of Judge’s postgame comments from Monday.
‘It’s a really accomplished hitter who won the MVP last year. I know that he means nothing but business and wants to win. I just found it a little funny that he was worrying about his dugout while he was in the batter’s box.”
Boone said his team also had been in touch with the league, and was told no investigation would be done ‘because nothing that went on last night was against the rules.’
In his first plate appearance Tuesday, Judge was met with heavy boos from the Rogers Centre crowd before grounding out.
No matter what really happened, sign-stealing is part of the game ― and has been throughout history ― as long as it doesn’t involve the kind of electronic surveillance the Houston Astros were caught doing in 2017.
So while Judge’s actions may certainly look suspicious, especially in light of the monstrous home run he hit moments later, they may end up being remembered mostly for the internet memes they generated.