Everyone knows who Colin Kaepernick is—not so much for his feats on the field (he’s now retired from the NFL) but rather because of his politics on the field. There’s another player—still on the field—whose off-field work (and background) more ought to know about.
They don’t—because he doesn’t make an issue of it.
He is Aaron Judge—who plays for the New York Yankees and was the American League’s runner up for MVP during the 2017 season, when he was a rookie outfielder. Judge is also known for being physically impressive, standing six feet, seven inches tall and weighing some 270 pounds—big enough to play in the NFL.
Judge, who is only 30, is already one of the most successful professional baseball players in the history of the sport. If he retired today, he’d be famous forever. Rookie of the Year. Silver Slugger. MLB All-Star. After only seven seasons as a pro. The Yankees’ vice president of scouting called him the “super package.”
But those are just stats.
What’s more important, arguably, is what Judge does off the field and out of the glare of the press. Judge is a Christian who founded the All Rise Foundation, whose mission statement is to “inspire children and youth to become responsible citizens and encourage them to reach unlimited possibilities.”
As he did. As he was given the opportunity to do—by the white couple who adopted him the day after he was born and raised him to become the man—and player— he now is.
Clearly, this is evidence of oppression.
Judge, who is biracial, does not see it that way, of course. Nor do his parents, Patty and Wayne Judge, who were in attendance at Game 2 of the doube-header against the Rangers in Arlington, Texas the other night—where they watched their son hit his 62nd home run and by doing that, break Roger Maris’ long-standing American League regular-season home run record. As far as I’m concerned, he basically broke the MLB record too, because you can throw the juice brothers Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGwire in the trash can full of asterisks.
Judge tied Maris’ record last week in Toronto—where Maris’s son Roger (who is also white, and so clearly an oppressor) was in attendance at New York’s 8-3 victory over the Blue Jays to cheer the mixed-race man who did it. “Congratulations to Aaron Judge and his family on Aaron’s historic home run number,” Maris said. “It has definitely been a baseball season to remember. You are all class and someone who should be revered.”
And not just for feats on the field.
“For the majority of the fans, we can now celebrate a new clean home run king,” he tweeted.
What he meant by that is that Judge is a natural. His athletic achievements don’t come from a syringe or pills.
But his achievements aren’t one-dimensional. Neither are those of his parents. Judge told the New York Post back in 2015 that he believed “God was the one who matched us together.” Also matched together in the same family is Judge’s older brother John, who was also adopted.
He is Korean.
More evidence of the privileged oppressive nature of white people like Patty and Wayne Judge, both of whom worked as school teachers in Linden, California.
Aaron Judge should be the poster child, not only for adoption but for the pro-life movement generally. Yankees fans should thank god Planned Parenthood was nowhere near his biological mother, and although she gave the baby up to a caring couple, she too should be commended. Everyone involved in bringing #99 to the baseball diamond should say, you’re welcome.
When, as a child, Judge noticed that he wasn’t the same skin color as his parents, he asked them about it. “They told me I was adopted and answered all of my questions and that was that,” he told the Post. “I was fine with it. It really didn’t bother me because that’s the only parents I’ve known.”
Pretty good parents, it looks like.
“I know I would not be a New York Yankee if it wasn’t for my mom” he told MLB.com in an interview. “The guidance she gave me as a kid growing up, knowing the difference between right and wrong, how to treat people and how to go the extra mile and put in the extra work, all that kind of stuff. She’s molded me into the person I am today.”
Judge doesn’t “take a knee.” He breaks records. He doesn’t use his fame to shame those he might disagree with politically, including his fellow Yankees. In this he is unlike Kaepernick, whose “knee taking” put pressure on those who didn’t—who could then be characterized as being in the wrong.
This is how the Left works. Not by uplifting and persuading, but by beating down those who disagree with them.
Judge was raised better than that, by parents who loved him from the day they first saw him. They didn’t see the color of their son’s skin as something lesser. They just brought out the best in him and allowed him to flourish.
“My parents are amazing. They’ve taught me so many lessons. I honestly can’t thank them enough for what they’ve done for me. I’m blessed.”
And so are the fans of America’s pastime.