Yankees slugger Aaron Judge recently praised his wife Samantha Bracksieck for the support and encouragement she provided during his free agency back in 2022.
In an appearance on the “Casa De Klub” podcast, Judge shared how Bracksieck gave him the push he needed to reach out to Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner when talks of his contract were at a standstill, telling the six-time All-Star to “just call him up.”It’s funny. I was in California. Sam and I were headed to Hawaii to celebrate our [wedding] anniversary,“We had a flight at 8 a.m., so two o’clock in the morning, three o’clock, we’re just staying up… we’re going back and forth about different offers from different teams. What do you want to do? And I’m telling her, ‘I want to stay in New York. I don’t want to go anywhere else.’
The conversations with New York really weren’t going anywhere. She was like, ‘Call Hal, just call him up. Tell him how you’re feeling. Tell him what you think.’”
Judge sent Steinbrenner a message, who was on vacation overseas at the time. The Yankees owner told Judge to give him a call, so he did.
He and his wife took the call together on speaker phone. That’s when Judge informed the Yankees owner that he didn’t want to go anywhere else.
The couple became even more excited after Steinbrenner told Judge he was going to be a Yankees captain.
“I was more speechless about that than hearing about a nine-year deal. Sam was hitting me like: ‘You gotta be saying something,’” Judge said, laughing. “It was special.”