On Sunday, in front of a sold-out crowd of devoted Bulldog fans and numerous former teammates, Aaron Judge, a five-time MLB All-Star and current New York Yankee, had his jersey, number 29, retired, further cementing his already legendary career.

“It is an incredible and humbling honor having my number retired at Fresno State,” Judge remarked. “I’m excited to come back and enjoy the moment with so many coaches, teammates, and alumni that made this possible.”

Mike Batesole, Judge’s previous head coach at Fresno State, and Judge himself both had their jerseys retired.

According to Fresno State, Judge’s jersey will be the twelfth retired number in baseball history, while Batesole’s jersey will be the thirteenth.

Before being selected by the New York Yankees in the first round of the 2013 Major League Baseball Draft, the 2022 American League MVP played for the Bulldogs for three seasons, from 2011 to 2013.

Judge said that his experience as a Bulldog at Fresno State was a major factor in his success in the major leagues when questioned about the significance of this day.

All games, in baseball as in life, are team affairs. Working together is key. Everything I learned about winning, teamwork, tradition, and dealing with setbacks at Fresno State really helped me when I moved to New York and played for the Yankees. “You’re playing in a game of failure, and you’re going to have good days and bad days. But if you focus on the team and how we can improve, just having that reassurance and learning those lessons here just allowed me to take that to New York and with the Yankees. The cultures just align perfectly,” Judge said.

Along with Taylor Ward, Austin Wynns, and Jordan Luplow, Judge became a member of the Diamond Dogs two years following the program’s inaugural College World Series victory.

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Following that, Judge received numerous accolades, including AL MVP (2022), Hank Aaron Award (2022), Silver Slugger (2017, 2021, 2022), and Rookie of the Year (2017).

The 2023 Roberto Clemente award, presented by Major League Baseball, recognized his “extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field.” This was his most recent achievement.

On and off the field, I’ll always remember the experiences I had here. “These were formative years of my life, and the lessons I learned at Fresno State—I still use them as a source of inspiration to be the best version of myself,” Judge stated.