Aaron Judge calls Toronto Blue Jays pitcher 'class act' for returning historic home run ball
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge called one of the Toronto Blue Jays pitchers "a class act" for his instrumental role in returning Judge's historic home run ball to the Yankees on Wednesday night's game.
During the third game of a three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre Wednesday, Judge tied the MLB American League (AL) record for most home runs in a single season.
Pitched to by reliever Tim Mayza, Judge hit his 61st home run of the season into the Blue Jays bullpen during the seventh inning of Wednesday’s game. With Aaron Hicks on first base, Judge hit the record-tying homer on a 3-2 count to give the Yankees a 5-3 lead.
Before falling into the bullpen, the lucrative ball grazed the glove of a Toronto Blue Jays fan sitting in the first row, a Toronto restaurateur named Frankie Lasagna.
Lasagna had brought the glove for exactly that reason – he’d hoped he’d have the chance to take home a piece of baseball history, or at least leverage it.
“I would have held on to it for as long as I could (to) negotiate,” he told the Canadian Press. “Maybe get Judge to try to come to the restaurant.”
But ultimately, Lasagna left empty-handed, as he couldn’t quite reach the ball, allowing it to fall into the Jays bullpen.
“The disbelief comes over you and just the shock and the amazement,” he said. “I was like, 'Oh my God, I almost had it.’”
From there, Blue Jays bullpen coach Matt Buschmann caught the ball after it bounced off a wall, a spokesperson for the team confirmed. He and closer Jordan Romano made sure it got back to the Yankees, they said.
“Romano was one of several people involved in our bullpen. He made sure our group hung onto it until Zack Britton of the Yankees came to get it,” the spokesperson said.
In an interview after the game, Judge called Romano a "class act" for handing the ball back to Britton.
"He's one of the best in the game. It definitely means a lot. I gotta try and find him and thank him," he added.
In a video shared to MLB.com, Judge can be seen taking photos with the historic ball alongside his mother, who watched all three games in Toronto in anticipation of the big moment. He says the ball has now been "locked up" by the Yankees equipment manager.
Overall, Judge called the moment “an incredible honour” in an interview following the game and said he felt relieved.
With files from The Canadian Press.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.