SAN FRANCISCO – In an alternative universe – one that may not have been far off from happening – the Yankees could have been visiting Aaron Judge in his home ballpark for the first time this weekend.
Instead, the Yankees captain will be playing his first career game at Oracle Park on Friday night, returning to the stadium he grew up going to as a fan before the Giants tried to land him in free agency in the winter of 2022.
“I’m excited,” Judge said Thursday.
Hal Steinbrenner’s late-night conversation with Judge, which resulted in adding an extra year to the Yankees’ offer to make it nine years for $360 million – matching the Giants’ offer – made sure Judge remained in pinstripes.
But in the process leading up to that, Judge envisioned what it would be like calling Oracle Park his home, roughly 95 miles from where he grew up in Linden, Calif.
“Definitely,” he told The Post. “When you’re a free agent, you’re looking at all the different options and seeing how it’s going to turn out.
“It would have been a great place to play, but I ended up staying with New York and I think it was the right choice.”
Instead of playing 81 games there last season, Judge will be taking the field at Oracle Park for the first time in his career Friday night.
The Yankees visited San Francisco in 2019, but Judge blew out his oblique less than a week before the series began, rendering him to just being a spectator in the dugout.
“So now getting a chance to step on the field that I went to so many games in the stands and now getting a chance to be on that field, it’s gonna be pretty – it’s going to be a whirlwind,” Judge said.
Before hitting his 18th home run of the season in Thursday’s 8-3 win over the Angels, Judge said his phone had not stopped blowing up about getting tickets for his family and friends this weekend.
There will be plenty of them in attendance.
Had Judge signed with the Giants, those family and friends would have had many more opportunities to see him play close to home.
But now they will be out in full force for Judge’s first real homecoming series.
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The 32-year-old slugger grew up going to Giants games, with Rich Aurilia as his favorite player, creating memories that will likely come rushing back to him this weekend.
Oracle Park went by three names during Judge’s younger years — Pacific Bell Park, SBC Park and AT&T Park — before becoming the namesake in 2019.
“Just getting different guys’ autographs with my best friend Peter,” Judge remembered. “Going with my family to games for a birthday or stuff like that. There’s a lot of different memories.”
Now Judge will be the one signing autographs for fans, arriving at Oracle Park at the end of his red-hot May.
On Thursday night he became only the second Yankee to ever hit 12 home runs and 12 doubles in a single calendar month, joining Lou Gehrig (1930).
And he still has one day left to do more damage before the calendar flips to June.
“Just a special player doing special things,” manager Aaron Boone said.
Overall, after a quiet first few weeks of the season, Judge came into Friday batting .361 with a 1.343 OPS and 14 home runs over his last 31 games.
Judge’s 433-foot blast on Thursday night was the 275th of his career, tying him with Jorge Posada for eighth place all-time on the Yankees home run list.
He has plenty more time to keep working his way up that list.
Besides the money, one of the biggest reasons Judge passed up the Giants’ offer and re-signed with the Yankees was to keep chasing a title, which has eluded him so far during his Bronx tenure.
Two months into this season, with Judge combining with Juan Soto as one of the best one-two punches in the game, the Yankees are in the early stages of trying to take aim once again.