Standing greenside at Pebble Beach during the 1982 U.S. Open, broadcasting legend Jack Whitaker told Jack Nicklaus something the 85-year-old golfer still brings up to this day.
“It’s a pleasure to be in your time.”
As a decorated World War II veteran who served under General Patton and landed at Normandy three days after the D-Day invasion, Whitaker had seen a lot in his life. He was the perfect voice to deliver the perfect line on the privilege of chronicling greatness in sports.
More than four decades later, it should be noted that it’s a pleasure to be in Shohei Ohtani’s time.
On the other side of the country, the same can and should be said about the Babe Ruth of his generation, Aaron Judge.
Ohtani, the Dodgers’ two-way force of nature, was named MVP for the fourth time on Thursday night, becoming the first player to win the award multiple times in the National League and the American League.
Judge, the Yankees’ towering slugger, was named AL MVP for the third time in the last four years, matching the career totals of Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra. At 33, Judge still has time to break that tie. Plenty of time.
“It’s mind-boggling,” Judge said.
“You’re out there chasing ghosts. It’s incredible.”
Maybe Judge can even win two more MVPs before he’s done, which would give him a 5-0 lead on his Yankee captain predecessor.
That would be fitting, since Derek Jeter holds a 5-0 lead on Judge on the scoreboard that matters most: World Series championships.
“I think I’d trade every award I’ve gotten and every All-Star appearance for an opportunity to win a championship,” Judge said.
“That’s my main focus. That’s why I wake up every day.”
But before we get going on Judge and Jeter and team rings versus individual plaques, here’s a question that needs to be asked:
Do you realize how difficult it is to be named MVP in MLB?
Rise and Repeat.@TheJudge44 joins Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris as the only Yankees to win back-to-back MVP awards. pic.twitter.com/ihN2Xjohxk
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) November 14, 2025
Hank Aaron broke Ruth’s career records for home runs and RBIs and still has 645 or more total bases than anyone who has ever played … and yet won a grand total of one MVP. Rickey Henderson still holds the all-time lead in runs scored and still has 468 or more steals than anyone who has ever played … and yet won only one MVP.
From 1996-99, Ken Griffey Jr. averaged 52 homers and 142 RBIs with four Gold Glove awards and yet had only one top-three finish in the MVP race over those four seasons, in 1997, the only year he won the award.
In the Bronx, iconic captains Thurman Munson and Don Mattingly each won the MVP once, while the more iconic Jeter finished in the top three of the voting three times but never hit pay dirt. Jeter did win the 2000 World Series MVP, which, depending on how you keep score at home, might be the more desirable honor.
Judge has not seized that honor because the Yankees lost to the Dodgers last year in his one-and-done World Series appearance. He will be reminded of that fact until he deletes it because superstar legacies are often defined by championship rings.
You either have them or you don’t.
After a ringless (at the time) Alex Rodriguez signed with the Texas Rangers for a record $252 million in 2001, Jeter told me of his own ambitions, “I’m not trying to beat Alex’s record. … The only record I’m concerned with is Yogi’s record, and that’s the 10 championships.”
Berra used to tease Jeter about only getting halfway there, and the shortstop would counter that Yogi’s teams never had to survive all these treacherous modern-day playoff rounds wedged between the regular season and the World Series. “I was just joking with Yogi the other day that some of his don’t count,” Jeter said years ago. “But Yogi’s not buying it.”
No, he wasn’t. Michael Jordan, winner of six championships, used to tease Jeter about winning only five. The ring is always the thing, but that doesn’t mean greatness can’t be measured and appreciated in other ways, especially in baseball, where a position player cannot control the outcome the way Jordan could with the Bulls.
Judge was tremendous in October, at last, and his Yankees didn’t even reach the ALCS. That shouldn’t change the way he is viewed historically. Give him Jeter’s supporting cast of Mariano, Bernie, Paulie, Pettitte, Tino, Coney, El Duque, Rocket, Boomer and CC, and Judge would have three or four rings now. No doubt.
I saw Willie Mays and Aaron play when they were past their primes, but in the half-century since their era ended, my ranking of the three best players I’ve seen — with a nod of acknowledgment to Griffey Jr. — would go like this:
1) Shohei Ohtani
2) Barry Bonds
3) Aaron Judge
The Yankees’ answer to Paul Bunyan will swing his heavy lumber in more Octobers to come, and chances are he will break through at some point and celebrate a World Series victory like Ohtani has the last two years.
“When I signed back with the Yankees in ’23,” Judge said, “I wanted to finish the job here and bring back a World Series (title). We’re still on that mission, but to get the chance to climb up these lists with these greats has been truly such an honor.”
Meanwhile, the words of a different Aaron, Rodgers, should resonate when the discussion turns to the value of individual awards. The four-time NFL MVP has had to answer for winning only one Super Bowl while three-time NFL MVP Tom Brady was busy winning seven. In one of the truest statements he’s ever made, Rodgers once offered the following on “The Pat McAfee Show”:
“Everybody who plays the game wants to be MVP. Yeah, you want to win a championship, 100 percent. You want to go down in history on a championship football team. But everybody wants to win MVP too. Any sport. You want to be recognized as the best of the best. Anyone who says they don’t is lying or non-competitive, and either one of those I don’t want to be a part of.
“So everybody who plays wants to be the best, wants to be recognized. And then if you don’t win it, you always say the right thing. ‘Oh, it’s more important to win championships.’ … There’s been a lot of guys who have played the game (who) haven’t gotten an MVP vote. You can rest on championships you’ve won, but you still want to be recognized as the best of the best.”
As much as he emphasized team-centric goals and ticker-tape parades, Jeter badly wanted to win a regular-season MVP. He was not happy after finishing second to Minnesota’s Justin Morneau in 2006, when, frankly, the shortstop probably should’ve won it. It’s the only hole on a first-ballot, near-unanimous Hall of Fame resume.
Judge doesn’t have to sweat that one. His three MVPs make him an all-time juggernaut who should never have to apologize for his empty World Series trophy case.
And who should never have to worry about chasing those damn ghosts.
