Aaron Judge paid a heartfelt tribute to New York Yankees great Brett Gardner after the team’s home opener on Friday, a little over a year after the death of Gardner’s teenage son, Miller, in Costa Rica.
Miller was just 14 when he passed away during a family holiday there in March 2025. Authorities determined carbon monoxide poisoning was the cause of death, with Miller passing away in his sleep after falling ill.
The family have since filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the owners of the resort, it emerged last month.
Gardner played his entire baseball career with the Yankees, winning a World Series, and when Yankees captain Judge led the team out for the first home game of 2026 at Yankee Stadium, he was thinking of the Gardner family.
During the top of the first, Judge turned to the diehard section of Yankees fans known as ‘Bleacher Creatures’ and bent a knee and flexed with both arms when his name was chanted, the same flex Gardner would pose with.
‘Still hoping he gets a chance to come back here and share his knowledge with the boys a little bit,’ Judge said of Gardner after the game.
Aaron Judge sent a heartfelt message to Brett Gardner after the first home Yankees game
Gardner lost his teenage son Miller (second right) on a family vacation to Costa Rica last year
‘He was a big part of this team, his long tenure here as a Yankee, so I always like paying him a little credit. He’s tuned into the game and watching.’
Gardner’s time with the Yankees ran from 2008-21, and Judge made his major league debut with New York in 2016. Judge started flexing for Roll Call when playing center field, Gardner’s old position and also roomed with Gardner in 2017.
‘He was a leader. He was a professional. He was a prankster. He was everything that you look for in a guy to lead the team,’ Judge added.
‘He took me in at a young age when I first got here and he treated me just like everybody else and showed me respect. He taught me a lot of things.
‘It kind of teaches you how to lead a clubhouse. He had a big influence on me not only on the field but inside this clubhouse, just the way he played the game and the way he held everybody to a standard. Very few guys are made like Brett Gardner.’
Moments after his Gardner tribute, Judge hit a huge home run in the bottom of the first to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead against the Miami Marlins and would go on to record an 8-2 victory.
Judge and the Yankees are 6-1 in a strong start to the season and face the Marlins once again on Saturday night in the Bronx.
