Anthony Rizzo had a night to remember on Tuesday as he led the New York Yankees to a 12-8 win in their series opener against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium.
The former World Series champion blasted three home runs out of Yankee Stadium, bumping his total of the year up to eight and putting himself in the Major League lead for home runs in 2022.
Three home runs in a game is always a nice accomplishment for any player in baseball, but for Rizzo, there was something a little extra special about it.
Rizzo, 32, joined some elite Yankees company, becoming the oldest player since Babe Ruth to have their first three-home run game as a member of the team.
Ruth had his on May 21, 1930 at the age of 35.
At 32 years and 261 days old, Anthony Rizzo is the second-oldest player in @Yankees history at the time of his first career 3-HR game in the regular season.
The only older one was Babe Ruth, who had his first on May 21, 1930, at 35 years and 104 days old.
— Stats By STATS (@StatsBySTATS) April 27, 2022
Matching The Bambino
As it turns out, other players besides Shohei Ohtani can match Ruth.
This has to be a nice confidence builder for Rizzo, who has struggled a bit over the past several years.
Not only is he back to where he used to be, but he has the honor of joining Ruth in becoming one of the oldest players to have their first career three-homer game.
It’s surprising that each of them didn’t have their first three-homer game until they were in their early-to-mid-thirties.
Ruth obviously put together a great career, and Rizzo has done the same.
But for all of Rizzo’s success, he didn’t have his first career three-home run game until this year, his age-32 season.
There’s always room for players to make history and have certain firsts.
Rizzo just happened to have one last night, joining Ruth in some exclusive Yankees history.
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