RALPH LAUREN | Polo Ralph Lauren | In Conversation With Aaron Judge and Michael Sebastian

[00:00:02]The gentleman we're talking to today, he needs no introduction, but I mean I guess I'll give you a very brief introduction, [music] right? You know, how like you you've made Yankee Stadium, you know, the the center stage of Major League Baseball. I mean you've got, let's see, record-shattering home runs, three MVPs, Rookie of the Year, you know, you are the the leader of the of the franchise, and you're you're 34, is that right? 34. So at 34, he's already cemented himself as this one of this generation's premier players. And not only that, but one of the Yankees franchises premier players ever, right?

[00:00:36]So, Aaron, this is a it's I think it's an honor for all of us for you to, you know, be here and talk to us. So I've got questions about baseball, I've got questions about fatherhood, about your partnership with Ralph Lauren, but like really quick, let's should we start with the Knicks really quick? Just because like that's the that's the story, right? Go Knicks.

[00:00:56]>> [applause] >> You were at game four, right? Like uh >> Yeah, game four. It was impressive. I got to watch the Yankees play in the afternoon, and then scooted over there with my wife, and we're kind of a little worried there in the third quarter, but we knew the Knicks, man. They like Brunson said, they show up about 30 minutes late, and take care of business. [laughter] So that was that was a special game. Never forget it.

[00:01:16]>> No, I was telling him uh so I grew up in Chicago, I'm a Cubs fan, actually.

[00:01:19]Sorry, everyone. Um my my daughters were born in New York, they're they're Yankees fans, right? So it's a mixed household. And they're playing the Cubs and the Yankees are playing July 31st.

[00:01:30]Uh so if you could just delay your return >> [laughter] >> until maybe like August 5th, that would that would be good for us.

[00:01:35]>> We could cut this interview short, right?

[00:01:36]>> [laughter] >> Should have said that after. Yeah, all right. So anyway, so uh congratulations on being the face of Ralph Lauren's Polo 67 fragrance, right? Uh you know, Ralph Lauren, it's it's Ralph Lauren is classic American, right? You know, it's it's timeless, it's confident, uh it's authentic, and you know, I just you you've been working with them for a little while now and I'm I'm wondering you know, like what what made you decide to work with Ralph Lauren and and how is it been going?

[00:02:04]>> Oh, it's been an incredible journey, you know, from the beginning even as a kid when I see somebody anytime I see somebody wearing wearing Ralph Lauren it's just the confidence the person walking in the room like they almost control the room.

[00:02:15]So getting a chance now to work with the brand work with all the people in the brand they've been you know, so great to me so great to my family and it's just kind of been a great partnership.

[00:02:24]>> Yeah, you look great in Ralph Lauren to me.

[00:02:26]>> Not bad, right?

[00:02:27]>> And you smell good, too. Importantly, you smell good, right? Yeah.

[00:02:30]>> Yeah, >> [laughter] >> yeah, that's the thing. That's what I love about the fragrance. It's just it's something that you know, you can walk in the room and just feel you just like I said confident. You feel confident walking in a room. It's not overpowering. It's just something that um you know, if you feel good, look good, smell good, it's going to be a good good day.

[00:02:45]>> Yeah, absolutely. Polo 67's about ambition, confidence, and pursuing something bigger than yourself. Okay, so when you hear those themes though, right? Does that resonate more with Aaron Judge the baseball player, Aaron Judge the husband and father or Aaron Judge the kid from Linden, California?

[00:03:00]>> Ooh.

[00:03:01]Oh boy, my my wife's not here. I would say husband you know, she >> That's right. We are recording this.

[00:03:06][laughter] So she will see this. Yeah.

[00:03:08]>> think I think all three, you know, you got to be as a husband and a father you got to be ambitious you got to take take charge, you know, not be afraid to you got to lead your family. Um I think as a baseball player kind of the same thing ambitious. You got to there's going to be a lot of obstacles in your way, you know, good and bad and you just got to face it head on and as a 10-year-old kid um I think really just having a dream and chasing your dream and not being afraid.

[00:03:35]>> Yeah.

[00:03:36]You've talked a lot about family. It's an it's an important part of your life uh and you were also adopted and I'm curious you know, how how that has kind of shaped you or how that is uh you know, helped form your identity and so on.

[00:03:49]>> Yeah, family for me is the foundation, you know, faith, family, and just being adopted, you know, it's it's really about you know, it doesn't matter where you came from or who your parents are, it's about the people showing up for you. And you know, my parents showed up for me and it's that's a big risk, that's a big a lot of unknown with that, you know, you're adopting a kid, you don't know how how are they going to feel about the situation, how they going to feel when they're older, how they going to feel when they're younger, what type of questions are going to be asked, but the sacrifices that they made for me, you know, all the travel ball baseball games, you know, the school events, um you know, just bringing me into their home and just loving me like I was their own. It's just really showed me how, you know, now that I'm a father, how I want to treat my daughter and you know, treat my future kids and just treat anybody I want to meet, you know, just welcome them in, love on them, and uh just make them feel like they're one of your own.

[00:04:41]>> Yeah. So, there's this there's this famous quote from uh William Faulkner and uh it's the the past is never dead, it's not even past.

[00:04:50]So, when I hear that quote, I feel like we're talking about the Yankees, basically. Uh past is never dead, it's not even past. I want to know how you balance the legacy of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio and Derek Jeter and not just like feel overwhelmed by that every day.

[00:05:05]>> Mhm.

[00:05:08]Well, well, first off, no, there's only one Derek Jeter, you know, there's only one Lou Gehrig, uh Babe Ruth, all those guys, and I think the best way to represent them and and honor them is just to go out there and be the best, you know, Aaron Judge I can be. You know, if I try to go out there and be Babe Ruth or following his legacy, I think I'm almost I'm doing him a disservice and I'm doing myself a disservice, I'm doing the fans a disservice.

[00:05:32]Um it's just really about, you know, just I learn from their experiences, what they did. I talked to a lot of them, I talked to Jeter a lot, um a lot of the old Yankees, and you know, try to learn from their lessons and you know, go out there and pave my own way to be, you know, the best Aaron Judge I can be so that hopefully down the road the next, you know, next Yankee Yankee star can go out there and be the best version of themselves.

[00:05:55]>> Yeah. Yeah. Obviously you are a home run hitter and I'm curious what it like what does it feel like when you hit a home run? Like I mean first of all you can you tell the second it hits the bat?

[00:06:07]>> Some of them yeah, some of them no. Like it's kind of hit it and you kind of think Um but you know, I'll go back to the high school. I was a senior in high school.

[00:06:17]Um we're playing on the road against the Amador was the high school and they have this huge wall in center field, huge.

[00:06:24]So, you know, we got scouts at the game, we got all these people, you know, you think you're kind of a hot shot. Like I'm going to get drafted and be in the major leagues in a year and >> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:06:31]>> you know, so first at bat I hit a ball straight out to center field and I'm like, "Oh, that's got to be clear the fence, you know." Throw my bat to the dugout, I'm kind of >> [laughter] >> almost walking to first base and all of a sudden before I even hit first base it hits the top of the wall. I got to scurry to second base and the look on my dad and I looked at my dad in the stands [laughter] and the look he gave me I was like, "Okay, I I won't do that again, you know." So, um it's just it's an amazing feeling like when you get one and I think for me it's more the crowd like hearing the crowd. You really don't you see the crowd react but you really don't hear it. Like they're almost you see people yelling and screaming and but you really don't hear the noise.

[00:07:06]Like it's almost a kind of surreal feeling so I like I like seeing the crowd. I like seeing how my how my dugouts reacting, my teammates.

[00:07:14]It's just And it and it goes by like that, you know, by the time you hit it run around the bases it's, you know, 10 seconds and you're back in the dugout and it's on to the next pitch. So, it's kind of a quick thing but you just try to enjoy it if, you know, it's giving our team the lead it's it's always something exciting and fun but um yeah, you really don't feel it hit the bat but I just make sure now to if it I make sure it goes over the fence before I do any bat flips or anything like that.

[00:07:37]>> What if it's one of your famous walk-off home runs? Then I feel like it it lingers a little bit more. Meaning when you get back to home plate, right?

[00:07:43]>> Yeah, it lingers it lingers just because you see all your teammates at home plate. They're all excited. They're like, yes, we get to go home and we won.

[00:07:49]Like this is this is amazing. So, >> [snorts] >> yeah, those ones are always special cuz, you know, we won. That's the most important thing. So.

[00:07:55]>> Yeah. All right, so you became a father for the first time last year. Happy early Father's Day, by the way.

[00:08:01]>> Oh, thank you.

[00:08:02]>> Um what have you learned so far from being a dad?

[00:08:06]I know, right? It's a big question.

[00:08:08]>> Oh, boy. Learned a lot of patience.

[00:08:11]>> Yeah.

[00:08:11]>> I mean, that's the biggest thing.

[00:08:13]I've learned that you can plan everything out and it still will not go as planned.

[00:08:17]Uh but just also learned a new level of love and appreciation, you know, getting the chance to see my daughter when I walk in through the door, you know, no matter what happened in the game or no matter how bad I did, how good I did, you know, getting the chance to walk in and see her face and see how excited she is or if she's at the stadium after a game, seeing her, it's it's just just a new level of love, that's for sure.

[00:08:40]>> What's been the biggest surprise so far about being a dad?

[00:08:44]>> The amount of diapers you go through, I think is >> Yeah, right? Yeah.

[00:08:47]>> is number one, you know, you hear parents talk about it over the years and you're kind of like, nah, it can't be can't be that many, but it's uh >> [laughter] >> no, it's I don't know, it's just it's something new every single day.

[00:09:01]It goes by fast. I think that's one thing that I've learned and surprises me is just how quick it goes. You know, I can remember my daughter how she was just almost this little potato in my arms and now before I even left here, I'm chasing her around the house and trying to keep her out of the cupboards, keep her from grabbing this and grabbing that and it's just trying to just enjoy every moment, I think, cuz it goes by quick.

[00:09:26]>> Yeah. Has it changed the way you experience baseball at all, being a dad?

[00:09:30]>> Oh, definitely.

[00:09:31]>> watching Field of Dreams all the time?

[00:09:32]>> Definitely.

[00:09:33]>> [laughter] >> Definitely. Just like I said, enjoying every moment.

[00:09:39]It really makes me realize how quick the baseball season go. It's just each game. You know, they're three hour games. They're long games, but you know, now look thinking about it they go by quick and you know, for me too just like the moments I can have with fans. You know, if even it's a little kid and you know, the dad's bringing the son for first baseball game or something like that just getting a moment to you know, toss them a ball or give them a little fist bump. You know, something like that they can on the right home talk about and have fun with or if it's a mom and daughter coming to their first game or it's her birthday and they're at a game like just trying to make a special moment like that that they can enjoy when they get get home to talk over.

[00:10:15]>> Well, this has been good. Thank you Aaron very much for sitting down and having this conversation.

[00:10:19]>> Yeah, of course. Of course.

[00:10:20]>> [applause] >> Thank you.

[00:10:22]And uh >> Yeah, I got one question. Anybody have any questions or anything like that? Any of the kids have a question or anything like that on their mind or What do you got my man?

[00:10:34]>> [laughter] >> Great question.

[00:10:35]>> Um I want you to be whatever you want to be. If you want to be a baseball player, go out there and be the best baseball player you can. You want to be a doctor, a teacher, anything. I think it's just about if you're passionate about something you want to be something go chase it. You know, don't be afraid to chase it and have fun with it. Rely on your parent parents, rely on your dad, mom, everybody to you know, ask them questions. You know, they've been in your shoes before and I would love We need all the help we can get with the Yankees. So, I would I would I would love it.

[00:11:05]You got one more? One more question?

[00:11:07]Okay.

[00:11:08]>> What do you focus on like when you go up to bat and you feel all that pressure?

[00:11:12]>> Ooh, what I focus on? I think the biggest thing is just trying to be simple. Simplify everything. Try to take myself back to when I'm just playing you know, high school baseball in Linden where there's nobody watching and just go out there and have fun. See what happens. So, I just try to simplify everything. That's a great question.

[00:11:30]Great question.

[00:11:33]>> [music] [applause]