As Aaron Judge connected on his 300th career home run at the White Sox’s Guaranteed Rate Field, the moment was full of cinematography.
A salute to the bullpen. Mobbed by teammates at home plate. A raucous dugout celebrating its captain.
What may have been just as unmistakable was the color of Judge’s batting gloves and arm band.
Indeed, as the Yankees slugger has put together a second MVP-caliber, Roger Maris history-threatening 2024 campaign, he’s done so with a signature look: indistinguishable seafoam green-colored accessories worn on almost a nightly basis.
“I’ve been wearing it my whole career,” Judge told The Post, mentioning a collaboration he did with former sponsor Adidas in 2019. “Pay a little tribute to the city and what the Statue of Liberty means. I think it’s pretty cool.”
The color — referred to by most in and around the team as “mint” — is a direct homage to New York City’s most famous emblem, particularly its “patina” color that derives from the statue’s copper oxidizing.
Though Judge has incorporated Jordan-branded gear with mint accents since the Yankees’ first 2024 series in Houston, the six-time All-Star broke out the full-fledged look for the first time April 13 in Cleveland — regularly featuring batting gloves, an arm band and even an elbow guard with the hex code.
Since then, Judge — who’s worn the team’s traditional navy, white and black for the majority of his nine years in the major leagues — has scarcely taken off the mint.
“I love it,” Judge said. “I think it goes pretty good with the pinstripes.”
Judge’s role as a leader in the Yankees’ clubhouse may even be expanded to foremost uniform influencer. After teammates caught wind of their 6-foot-7 star’s unique gear, they were highly intrigued.
“[Judge] kind of had it on all his gear like that,” outfielder Alex Verdugo said. “We all liked it and kind of started ordering to match.”
What started as a five-year-old reimagination from Judge exploded into a mint frenzy that would impress even Ben & Jerry’s.
Other Yankees to have joined in on the accessory fun include Verdugo, Gleyber Torres, Giancarlo Stanton, Marcus Stroman, Nestor Cortes Jr., Oswaldo Cabrera and Austin Wells — with gear including batting gloves, cleats, arm sleeves and even catching equipment.
“I saw my guys with that color, the mint means like the Statue of Liberty,” Cabrera said. “I said, ‘This color would probably give me a couple matches.’ I saw the pair of the shoes, and I was like, ‘I had to customize this with my guys that I’ve been working with, Custom Cleats.’ My mind was like, ‘This will be crazy.’ When I get that color, I feel so good.”
The signature moment in the team’s fashion frenzy may have arrived April 24, when Cortes reached out to his glove manufacturer, 44 Pro, to create a mint glove with a navy torch and an orange flame embedded on the webbing.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Statue of Liberty glove,” said Benny Miller, who helps design and ship the company’s products. “This is kind of the first time anyone’s ever had the idea to, surprisingly.”
Miller figured Cortes would simply post a picture of the glove on his Instagram and shout out the company. But the southpaw went a step further, debuting it in a live game against the Orioles on June 18.
Since then, Cortes has used the bright leather three additional times — even influencing Verdugo to request a 44 Pro mint glove after incorporating the torch logo on his sliding mitt.
“I was shocked,” Miller said. “I was like, ‘Dude, that’s insane that you’d actually use the Statue of Liberty glove in a game.’ ”
MLB rules stipulate that a pitcher’s glove “may not, exclusive of piping, be white, gray, nor, in the judgment of an umpire, distracting in any manner,” something which Cortes himself has encountered in years past by having to scratch out emblems with a marker mid-game. But Cortes hasn’t had any problems despite repeated wear in 2024 — potentially due to more lax team color codes over the past few years, Miller said.
The Yankees are keen on adhering less to the basic color mandates of the past, too.
“This season, we’re going to use some colors to match everybody together,” Torres said. “I think things are different and cool. We have a bunch of guys doing it right now. I think it’s fun for me.”
The mint color serves as the foundational color for the New York Liberty, named in honor of the statue, but seldom has it been utilized by the other New York sports franchises. On a broader scale, rarely if ever has an MLB team united around one non-major color, until now.
“I’ve never really seen anything like this before, where a whole MLB team just kind of grabs one new color and just adds it into the mix,” said Miller, a self-proclaimed “baseball equipment nerd.” “I can’t think of anything on this scale, [with] almost every player.”
The Yankees — vying for their first World Series title since 2009 — believe that even matching with this simple accessory look symbolizes a deeper team bond.
“We kind of talked with each other and kind of said, ‘Hey, I think it’s a cool little accent color that we can all kind of wear,’ ” Judge said. “Shows that we’re all kind of together in this.”
As the Bombers close out their regular season in pursuit of an AL East title and accelerate toward October, expect mint to remain a mainstay for Judge and other staple players — a color that may not have been permitted by the Yankees in the past but which now holds profound meaning.
“This is something new for us,” Cabrera said. “It looks so good and means a lot, too, for the city. It’s not just a color, whatever color. It’s a color that represents the Yankees.”
