Aaron Judge Wants To Compete In The 2028 Summer Olympics
In 2028, baseball will return to the Summer Olympics. And Aaron Judge is the latest big league player to volunteer his services.
In an exclusive interview with The New York Post this week, the New York Yankees slugger said he'd be honored to have the chance to represent Team USA.
"I'd love to play, if they give us the opportunity," Judge said. "I don't know what the ruling [is] or [if] anything has come out about that. But I'm all in on that… There’s very few opportunities to get to do that and especially, hopefully, in the prime of my career where I can still do it and make an impact, I’d love to."
Aaron Judge says he wants to play for Team USA in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
(Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
Judge — who will be 36 years old in 2028 — has not yet had the chance to represent his country. He declined to join the national team in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, opting instead to focus on his role as the Yankees' captain.
"It would be an honor to represent my country and play in that," Judge told FOX Sports last year. "But my main goal is what I can do here in New York and what I can do to bring a championship back here. I think especially after signing a nine-year contract, for me, priorities are New York. Maybe four years down the road, hopefully I can still make the team and get an opportunity to play. But right now for me, my focus is here."
But the opportunity to compete for an Olympic gold is a different story.
And Judge isn't alone. Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper and Los Angeles Dodgers' $700-million-dollar man Shohei Ohtani have also expressed interest in competing in the Olympic Games.
Will Aaron Judge, MLB Players Be Allowed To Compete In The 2028 Olympics?
Baseball is one of five Olympic sports — joining flag football, softball, cricket, lacrosse and squash — that will be added to the list of events in Los Angeles in 2028.
Olympic baseball unofficially debuted at the 1900 Paris Games and was played sporadically as a demonstration sport. It became an official Olympic sport at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, then was played at each Olympiad up until the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The sport was then dropped from the Summer Olympic program, until being revived for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo for a single appearance.
Baseball is one of five Olympic sports that will be added to the list of events in Los Angeles in 2028.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
In the past, MLB has not allowed its current players to participate in the Olympics. The Games do, after all, take place right in the middle of the Major League Baseball season. But this time around, Commissioner Rob Manfred has not yet ruled out the possibility.
Besides, it sounds like a pretty good alternative to the All-Star Break.