Both World Series participants voted unanimously as the winners in their respective leagues by Hall of Fame Players, former winners and fans each player wins their second Hank Aaron Award, with Ohtani’s consecutive win coming in his first season in the National League.
Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees and Shohei Ohtani, of the Los Angeles Dodgers have been named the recipients of the 2024 Hank Aaron Awards in their respective leagues, Major League Baseball announced today. The winners were unveiled earlier this evening in Las Vegas, Nevada on MLB Network’s “All-MLB Awards Show” presented by MGM Rewards during a presentation featuring Mrs. Billye Aaron and Commissioner of Baseball Robert D. Manfred, Jr.
The Hank Aaron Awards recognize the most outstanding offensive performers in each League. Each Club nominates players to be considered for the Hank Aaron Award, and a panel of MLB.com writers determined the finalists for each league from the list of Club nominees. A fan vote is added to the votes of a special panel of Hall of Fame players and former winners to determine the winners of the award, which is officially sanctioned by Major League Baseball. The panel includes Hall of Famers Johnny Bench, Craig Biggio, Ken Griffey Jr., Derek Jeter (two-time Aaron Award winner), Chipper Jones, Pedro Martínez, Eddie Murray, David Ortiz (two-time Aaron Award winner), John Smoltz and Robin Yount, as well as two-time Aaron Award recipient Albert Pujols. This year’s recipients won first place honors unanimously across panel voters and the cumulative fan ballot.
Judge was the American League recipient of the Hank Aaron Award in 2022, a year in which he belted a historic 62 home runs and 2024 was arguably a better offensive year for the Yankees’ captain. Besides leading the Majors with 58 homers, Judge became the first player to record at least 140 RBI since Prince Fielder and Ryan Howard in 2009. Judge turned in a .322 batting average, and his 1.159 OPS was the best by any qualified hitter over a full season since Barry Bonds in 2004.
In 2024, Ohtani become the first player in Major League history to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in one season. In this his seventh Major League season, he totaled 54 homers, 130 RBI, 38 doubles, seven triples, 81 walks, 134 runs scored and 59 stolen bases, while picking up his fourth consecutive Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award. He chartered the 50/50 Club in historic fashion with a 6-for-6 day on September 19th vs. Miami, hitting three home runs with 10 RBI, two stolen bases and 17 total bases. His stellar day at the plate was the first three-homer game in MLB history where the player also had multiple stolen bases, and he became the first player with at least five extrabase hits and multiple stolen bases in a game since at least 1901. Ohtani becomes the first player to win the Aaron Award in both leagues, and he also is the sixth to earn the honor in consecutive seasons, joining Barry Bonds (2001-02), Alex Rodriguez (2001-03), José Bautista (2010-11), Miguel Cabrera (2012-13) and Christian Yelich (2018-19).
Both players capped phenomenal regular seasons by leading their respective teams to face off in the 2024 World Series. With Judge (58 HR) and Ohtani (54 HR) each slugging at least 50 homers, this World Series marked the first time ever that two players with at least 50 regular season home runs played each other for the championship. This was also the first time since 1956 that the home run leaders of both leagues met in the World Series, when Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle and Duke Snider faced off in a previous Yankees-Dodgers Fall Classic.
The Hank Aaron Award was introduced in 1999 to honor the 25th Anniversary of Aaron breaking Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record, and, at that time, was the first major award introduced by Major League Baseball in more than 25 years. Earlier this season, MLB celebrated the 50th anniversary of Hank Aaron’s historic 715th record-breaking home run.