Did you ever wonder if Superman disguising himself with a pair of glasses was a little too easy? And something that can only happen in storybooks and a fictional world? Well, think again! It seems like it’s not as far-fetched an idea as everyone thought – because believe it or not, even Aaron Judge, the New York Yankees icon, did it! The Yankees star, back in 2017, when he was all but just a rookie, decided to go undercover, and he had every one of them Yankee fans fooled. 

He was ready to play Sherlock with no Yankee cap or the classic pin-stripes, just a plain ordinary glass concealing his identity. Aaron Judge then proceeded to ask people about—Aaron Judge! You’d think Yankee fans would be able to catch him right there. After all, he is a big man, a heavy man, and let’s not forget he has a distinct tooth gap. But what do you know, spectacles can fool others, and many Yankees fans couldn’t even recognize their player. In fact, someone recalled Judge as – Adam Judge! The entire conversation Aaron Judge had with fans was pretty hilarious. 

Aaron Judge goes undercover!

Aaron Judge standing at 6-foot-7 and weighing 282 pounds, might be impossible to miss. And given that even Judge was nervous about going into doing the undercover bit for the Tonight Show. Judge said, “When I was going through it, I didn’t think I was doing well at all.” But well, seated behind the NBC Sports desk in Bryant Park of Manhattan in 2017, he managed to pull it off. He successfully disguised himself and chatted with fans about—well, himself. Anytime fans failed to recognize him, Judge would pull out the copy of Sports Illustrated with him on the cover page and say, “People say we look alike.” 

One fan called him “Adam Judge” and missed the mark completely. When Judge, in disguise, showed the cover of the magazine and asked if he looked like Judge, the fan remarked, “I can see it. The freckles.” He still didn’t get it! Only after Aaron Judge wore the Yankees cap, the fan joined the dots. Another fan echoed the same thing and said, “Aaron Judge, he good.” But when Aaron Judge pulled on the cover of the magazine, the fan started the magazine cover and back to Judge and realized he’d been had! “Judge, you’re the man, bro. You’re the future man. We love you here,” he said with a huge smile. 

Well, Judge thought his gap-tooth smile would give it away, but well, seems like spectacles are a great form of deception. And in the fans’ defense, Judge was only but a rookie then and had just joined the New York Yankees on August 13, 2016. But well, that wasn’t the last time he disguised himself and posed with fans. He did it again, dressed as an umpire at the MLB store in New York. The plan was to surprise fans with a ‘Celebrity Photo bomb’ bit. Shoppers posing for photos were stunned when they saw Judge calling balls and strikes! 

Aaron Judge from rookie to baseball icon

When the fan told Judge, “You’re the future man,” little did he know that Aaron Judge would go on to become the biggest name of the sport. And it was eight years ago since today that Judge hit a home run on the MLB debut–and his legacy continues to grow. And now the Yankees star is just on the brink of making history as he is just one shy of making his 300 career home runs!

Aaron Judge is surpassing the record for the fewest games needed to reach 300 career home runs, which was earlier set by Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner with 1,087 games. Judge is in his 952 game, and breaking this would mean a great deal. But for Judge, milestones come secondary to winning games. The Yankees icon said, “The numbers are not what we play for. I’m just here to help this team win and put them in a good position. Hopefully, it comes with a win. It would be something special.”

Judge, right now, is leading the league in nearly every offensive category in 2024, boasting a .318 batting average, 40 home runs, 101 RBIs, and a 1.143 OPS. Manager Aaron Boone couldn’t help but talk about Judge’s greatness in the sport. Boone said, “I try to remind myself every now and then that I take him for granted. His greatness … I’m getting to watch over there every day what he is able to do and be just the player that he has become. It is remarkable.”

Well, it truly is remarkable, from having no one recognize him back in 2017, to changing the entire narrative and now being the one carrying the team forward—he has come a long way! He has become a household name now and on August 26, 2024; he is all set to feature in a spin-off of the Paw Petrol show. The Yankees captain will feature along with his furry friends Gus and Penny in a special episode of ‘Rubble and Crew’. Not just that, he recently even became the face of Ralph Lauren fragrances and has major brand deals with Adidas. From an undercover player to a household name, Aaron Judge has truly come a long way!