Aaron Judge Says He Doesn’t Leave Hotel on Road Trips for Fear of Being Recognized

Standing 6-foot-7 and with shoulders as wide as Broadway, Aaron Judge is a tough man to miss.

As if being the captain of the New York Yankees didn’t already make you enough of a recognizable face, Judge has the added weight of carrying a frame that few other humans on the planet possess.

In a recent interview with Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Judge said that he has mostly stopped leaving his hotel room while on road trips, as the attention he would get from the outside world would sometimes simply become too much.

“I think if I was a little shorter, if you just give me 6-foot-1, 6-2, I could blend in a little bit. Throw on a Yankee cap and we can go,” Judge told Nightengale. “It’s the height. The first thing they think when they see me, they think basketball player. And then they put two-and-two together.

“That’s why I don’t leave the hotel for the most part. I got a job to do on the road. I try not to explore too much. I can do that when I retire and check out these cities.”

While there’s no denying that Judge confining himself to his hotel room is something of a bummer—travel is one of life’s great pleasures, as is trying every fancy dinner spot in every major city that hosts its own baseball team—the Yankees captain knows that the attention is just part of the job.

“It’s just part of it when you play for the Yankees. The biggest franchise in sports. They’re going to recognize you and cheer you no matter where you’re at."

Sports superstars get paid a lot of money, and dealing with the attention of the adoring public is part of the deal that comes with a contract that’s worth a healthy fraction of a billion dollars. That said, if you see Judge walking the streets of your city, maybe just let him be.