It’s funny seeing how sports fandom works sometimes. For a fan, the players of their sports are the biggest stars on the planet. But for non-watchers, those players don’t hold much relevance.  And that’s what makes it fun to compare stars two different sports from each other. Right now, the flavor of the month is Caitlin Clark and Aaron Judge. While they’re in the news for their gifts and heights, they’re also in the limelight because of their fame.

Who is more popular? That is a question that many have asked. In fact, Dan Beyer and Kerry Rhodes asked this question during their latest radio show. Only, it generated quite a wild response from Beyer, and why? Because everyone was in unison in their opinion that “Caitlin Clark is more popular than Aaron Judge.” That offended Beyer who then went on a long tirade to explain why Judge is the more famous athlete of the two.

Aaron Judge being put below Caitlin Clark hurts radio host

“No way Caitlin Clark is more popular than Aaron Judge,” Beyer yelled. He couldn’t understand how the AL MVP could fall behind the WNBA rookie. He agreed that “Baseball was not doing any favors to Aaron Judge.”(a reference to MLB’s dormant marketing strategy) But also noted that saying Juge is less popular is “disrespectful to an MVP of Major League Baseball, a six-time All-Star.” So why does he think that All Rise is far more popular than Caitlin Clark? 

Well, for starters, according to Beyer, Judge has longevity with him. He’s been popular for 8 years while Clark’s fame has creeped up only recently. More importantly, Judge is the “new face of the Yankees,” and that means something, right? Maybe it does. But one can’t deny that baseball isn’t close to being as popular as it was during the 90s. That was a time when players like Derek Jeter, Barry Bonds, Ken Griffy Jr., and Alex Rodriguez were household names. 

Do players have that same level of fame now? That is hard to guess. Baseball has increasingly become more regional in recent times. Apart from Shohei Ohtani’s unreal fame, no player can truly claim to be a household name. That is a testament to both Ohtani’s talent and MLB’s apparent inability to market its stars. This is in stark contrast to how the WNBA has done with Caitlin Clark. So is Aaron Judge more popular or Caitlin Clark? That is an undying argument. But it is fun to see how big of an impact both have on their respective sports.

How big are these two behemoths of their sports

The easiest way to judge a player’s popularity is to see how many viewers he or she can attract to the game. Both Aaron Judge and Caitlin Clark have proved to be massive draws in that regard. How big has been their impact? Let’s start with Clark. Her WNBA rookie year has been nothing less than magical for the league. From May to June, the WNBA averaged 1.32 million viewers – almost tripling 2023’s 462,000. Yes, Clark isn’t the only one to cause this spike but she is one of the biggest factors.

Similarly, the 2024 WNBA All-Star game became the most watched in the event’s history with 3.44 million viewers. Again, this is the impact of Caitlin Clark’s presence. On the other hand, Aaron Judge has been constantly setting ratings benchmarks for the New York Yankees. For example in 2022 (during his AL Home run record chase) Judge attracted over 3.2 million viewers to a game. More than that, Judge’s presence has led to constant sell-outs in the Yankee Stadium. On top of that, Judge is the top 3 merchandise movers in MLB, how big is that, right?

So all in all, one can’t determine who is bigger in their sport. However, it is easy to understand why Judge and Clark are as big as they are. It is because they strive for excellence and that’s what turns a star into a superstar.