We hadn’t seen two three-time MVPs each hit multiple home runs in the same game in 70 years -- until Mike Trout and Aaron Judge did the trick during Monday’s Angels-Yankees thriller.
But that game actually contained another piece of 70-year history, thanks to a couple other Bronx Bombers.
Trout and Judge rank second and third, respectively, in home runs among active MLB players. Trout is at 409 after going deep in the first inning of Tuesday’s game at Yankee Stadium, and Judge has 374 home runs. Giancarlo Stanton is the active leader with 454 homers while Paul Goldschmidt is in fourth place with 373 homers, one behind Judge.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Monday’s game marked the first time since June 12, 1956, in which the top four active home run hitters played in the same game. The only other game since 1900 that qualifies was a matchup between the Dodgers and Cardinals. The top four active home run leaders on that date in 1956 were the Cardinals’ Stan Musial (333), the Dodgers’ Gil Hodges (249) and Duke Snider (247), and the Cardinals’ Hank Sauer (246).
The Dodgers won that game in St. Louis, 6-4, with the help of a first-inning dinger from Snider.
Trout will actually play against every other member in the top five of active home run leaders in the same week. He and the Angels will host the Padres beginning on Friday, and San Diego third baseman Manny Machado entered Tuesday ranked fifth on the list with 371 homers.