Yankees’ Ben Rice and Aaron Judge have made history that Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle once did

Yankees’ Ben Rice and Aaron Judge have made history that Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle once did originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The New York Yankees have had a somewhat average start to the 2026 campaign by their standards, currently sitting at 13-9.

However, there have been some bright spots in the organization, and that’s what the Yankees have done offensively with Aaron Judge and Ben Rice.

Outside of Judge and Rice, I don't want to say that any other guy has been great, but the veteran and multi-time Most Valuable Player Award winner and the youngster in Rice have been just as good as any duo in Major League Baseball. According to Sarah Langs, they also made some Yankees history along the way.

“Yankees duos with 8+ HR each in team’s first 22 games: 2026 Aaron Judge, Ben Rice 2022 Judge, Anthony Rizzo 1956 Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle,” Langs wrote.

It's not very surprising to hear that Judge has broken some sort of record when it comes to home runs. All the guy has done throughout the past few years is leave the yard at a ridiculous pace, almost as well as any player we've ever seen in Major League Baseball history.

However, it's very impressive that Rice has been able to do what he's done. There's a reason why many Yankees fans want him in the lineup every single day, and at this point, it's almost tough to justify Aaron Boone doing anything else.

Regarding Judge, he also made more history along the way, as he tied Jeff Kent, a Hall of Famer, for 78th on the all-time home run list with 377.

“Aaron Judge hit his 377th career HR, passing Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk and moved into a tie with Norm Cash and Hall of Famer Jeff Kent for 78th on the all-time HR list,” RobBballHistory of X (formerly Twitter) wrote.