There is a new home run king in the American League. In Game 161 of the 2022 MLB season, franchise star hit his 62nd home run of the year, . Maris previously held the AL's single-season home run record with 61 homers in 1961.Judge, now 30, will become a free agent after this season -- good timing on this 62 homers, eh? -- and he has been among the game's best players since his rookie season in 2017. He smashed a then-rookie record 52 home runs that year and was named the unanimous Rookie of the Year. Judge was also the MVP runner-up that year and finished fourth in the MVP voting in 2021.Judge is a true player development succe s story. He overcame extreme swing-and-mi s i sues in college and in the minors to become a very productive big leaguer. Yankees coaches worked with him and Judge deserves credit for tinkering and making constant adjustments. It's not easy. His work ethic and baseball acumen helped him get to where he Oscar Klefbom Women Jersey is now.Getting Judge into pinstripes was a long proce s that dates back much further than his college or minor-league career. The string of transactions that led to the Yankees acquiring Judge is 17 months older than Judge himself. It can be traced back to 1990 and includes seven trades, one international signing, one draft pick, 21 different players, and a whole lot of patience. Here is a step-by-step breakdown of the transactions tree that resulted in Judge playing for the Yankees.Nov. 21, 1990: Yankees sign Ruben RiveraThe Yankees signed two Riveras -- cousins -- as international amateur free agents out of Panama in 1990. One came with little hype and fanfare and eventually became the greatest closer in history and the first unanimous Hall of Famer. The other was billed as the next great Yankee from the moment he signed. Ruben had far more buzz than Mariano.In fact, magazine put Ruben on the cover of their Dec. 1994 i sue with the caption, "The next Mickey Mantle?" ranked Rivera -- Ruben, not Mariano -- as one of the nine best prospects in baseball every year from 1995-97. He made his brief debut as a Sept. call-up in 1995 and got his first extended taste of the big leagues in 1996, when he hit .284/.381/.443 in 46 games but only 106 plate appearances. He was a part-time player on a championship team.Behind the scenes, the Yankees were growing impatient with Rivera, who was immensely talented but also immature. He authored a very underwhelming .235/.324/.395 batting line in 101 Triple-A games in 1996 and there were concerns about his work ethic. Rivera had the tools to be great, but did he have the drive to be great? The Yankees determined the answer was no."I Laurent Brossoit Women Jersey really had great hopes for him. He could run, he could throw, he could hit for distance," Herb Raybourn, who signed Rivera when he served as New York's director of Latin American operations, . "He had all the tools. But he also liked to fool around. You have to be serious." April 22, 1997: Yankees trade Rivera for Hideki IrabuHideo Nomo took MLB by storm in the mid-1990s and paved the way for other Japanese stars to migrate to the show. Irabu, known as "The Japanese Nolan Ryan," was more hyped than Nomo. The purchased Irabu's contract from the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan in Jan. 1997, a move that led to the creation of the posting system. Japanese teams wanted compensation for their stars.There was one small problem with San Diego purchasing Irabu's contract: he didn't want to play for them. "I have absolutely no desire to conclude a contract with San Diego. My first pick is the Yankees. All I can say for now is that I have told this to my agent and that there has been no change in my wishes," .Padres president Larry Lucchino was confident Irabu would come around - Andrew Ference Women Jersey - "We think that when we have a chance to speak with him, we'll be able to adjust his perspective," he told the A sociated Pre s -- but it never happened. Irabu held his ground and forced a trade. To the Yankees he went in a six-player trade headlined by Rivera. One month later Irabu signed a four-year, $12.8 million contract. Here are the full trade details: Yankees receive: Hideki Irabu, Homer Bush, minor leaguers Gordie Amerson and Vernon MaxwellPadres receive: Ruben Rivera, minor leaguer Rafael Medina, and $3 million in cashFollowing a brief minor-league Jesse Puljujarvi Kids Jersey tune-up, Irabu joined the Yankees in July 1997 and was very good his first time out, holding the to two runs in 6 2/3 innings. He struck out nine. The wheels fell off after that. Irabu allowed 42 runs in his next 37 1/3 innings and was demoted to the bullpen in September. He finished his rookie MLB season -- his age-28 season -- with a 7.09 ERA in 53 1/3 innings spread acro s nine starts and four relief appearances. He did not pitch in the postseason that year.Irabu had his best season as a big leaguer in 1998. He was in New York's rotation all year and had a 4.06 ERA in 173 innings. That was roughly nine percent better than league average once adjusted for ballpark. Irabu was the club's No. 5 starter behind David Cone, Orlando Hernandez, Andy Pettitte, and David Wells that year and he did not pitch in the postseason. Although he was productive in 1998, Irabu was not living up to the hype or his contract, and tensions boiled over early in 1999. He failed to cover first base in back-to-back spring training starts, leading to the late George Steinbrenner calling him a "fat toad.""He looks like a fat, pus-sy rhymes with fu sy toad out there," . "That's not a Yankee. Come on, guys, we are going to meet again (to tell him what we expect)."Irabu started the 1999 season in the bullpen before shifting back into the rotation in May. He struck out 12 in a complete game win over the on July 30, at which point he was sitting on a 3.89 ERA. After that, Irabu pitched to a 6.63 ERA in the final two months, and opponents hit .295/.362/.467 against him. He allowed eight runs in 4 2/3 innings in a postseason mop-up appearance. As for Rivera, he spent four seasons with the Padres and underwhelmed, hitting .204/.301/.397 in 394 games. He bounced around a bit after that, including returning to the Yankees in 2005 and , and eventually settled in as a star in the Mexican League. Rivera was still active at age 45 in 2019.Dec. 22, 1999: Yankees trade Irabu for Jake WestbrookIrabu's poor performance and general indifference frustrated the Yankees and they made the decision to move on following the 1999 season. They sent him to Montreal for three young pitchers in a move that also cleared a big-league roster spot for prized pitching prospect Ed Yarnall, who never did amount to much.Here are the trade details:Yankees receive: Jake Westbrook, Ted Lilly, and Cam Talbot Women Jersey Christian ParkerExpos receive: Hideki Irabu"Hideki came in with a lot of fanfare," . "He wanted us as badly as we wanted him. There were some good times and some tough times as well. We saw those flashes of brilliance that attracted us when he was a free agent comi