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The wife, parents and relatives all left town.
The bottle of Dom Perigon, presents, and gift bags sitting in front of his locker were all put away.
The horde of local TV stations, camera crews and fans that flocked Globe Life Field the past two days, stayed home.
And Aaron Judge, for the first time in 56 games, going back to Aug. 4, had a day off Wednesday, sitting out of the Yankees’ starting lineup in their meaningless season finale against the Texas Rangers.
So how was it?
“Terrible,’’ Judge said as he packed his bags for their trip back to New York. “I didn’t know what to do with myself sitting on the bench.
“It’s been a while since I had an off-day. It was a little weird.’’
While the fans started chanting in the ninth inning „We want Judge! We want Judge!“ with Yankees manager Aaron Boone pretending not to hear them, Judge felt a tinge of guilt.
It had been two months since his last day off, and weeks of intense pressure and anxiety with the baseball world watching every at-bat as he tried to break Roger Maris’ record, but still, Judge felt awkward not being on the field or stepping to the plate.
“That’s what I’m paid to do,’’ he said. “I’ve got to be out there.’’
Judge says he still hasn’t permitted the magnitude of setting the American League single-season home run record with his 62nd on Tuesday night sink in. He still can’t fathom that President Joe Biden and former president Jimmy Carter reached out, and half-expected former President George Bush — a diehard baseball fan who once owned the Texas Rangers — to walk through the door. He heard from actors and actresses, musicians, athletes in other sports, and his own peers, all wanting to congratulate him for reaching one of baseball’s greatest milestones.
“I still can’t believe it,’’ Judge says. “That meant so much to me.’’
It was a moment he’ll forever cherish.
Now, he wants to make it a season he never forgets.
The Yankees, 99-63, once again will be a force in the postseason.
