New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge hit his 250th home run on Friday night, which wouldn’t be news for the Philadelphia Phillies except by doing so he assumed a position that a Phillies legend has held for some time.
By hitting No. 250 on Friday, Judge did it in his 810th career game, making him the fastest to reach that number.
Whose position did he steal? Ryan Howard’s.
Howard needed just 855 games to reach 250 home runs, and when he did it he passed Pittsburgh Pirates Hall-of-Famer Ralph Kiner (871) games to become the fastest to do it.
With Howard now second and Kiner now third, the top five includes Minnesota Twins legend Harmon Killebrew (905 games) and future Hall-of-Famer Albert Pujols (933), who retired after last season.
Howard had a terrific 13-year career with the Phillies, as he amassed 382 career home runs after he broke into the Majors in 2004. In his true rookie season of 2005, he was named the National League Rookie of the Year.
Howard went on to win an MVP in 2006, in which he hit a Major League-leading 58 home runs and 149 RBI. He made three NL All-Star teams and won a World Series ring with the Phillies in 2008. He also claimed the Silver Slugger in 2006.
His prodigious power is, in part, why Howard ascended the list so fast. After hitting two home runs in 19 games in 2004, he followed that with 22 home runs in 2005, 58 in 2006, 47 in 2007, 48 in 2008 and 45 in 2009. He then put together back-to-back 30 home runs seasons (31 in 2010 and 33 in 2011) before his production fell off due to injuries.
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