MILWAUKEE — The Yankees’ night ultimately ended in heartbreak. But it began with a moment nobody in franchise history had produced before.
Paul Goldschmidt stepped to the plate in the first inning Saturday at American Family Field. He was the leadoff hitter. He was 38 years old. On the first pitch he liked from Kyle Harrison, he turned on it. The ball traveled 419 feet to left-center at 105.1 mph.
When the ball landed, Goldschmidt had done something no Yankee had ever done in franchise history.
The record: Oldest Yankees leadoff home run in history
Goldschmidt is now the oldest player in Yankees history with a leadoff homer. He was 38 years and 241 days old.
That is a Yankees franchise stretching back to 1903. It covers legends like Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Derek Jeter. None of them, in the leadoff spot, had cleared the fences at a greater age than Goldschmidt did Saturday night in Milwaukee.
To understand how unusual that is, consider the other names near the top of the Yankees’ oldest home run list. The oldest Yankee to ever homer in the regular season was Enos Slaughter. He did it at 43 years and 83 days against Chicago on July 19, 1959. Slaughter had also homered for the Yankees on May 25, 1958, at 42 years and 28 days, against Cleveland pitcher Dick Tomanek.
Babe Ruth hit his final Yankees homer on September 27, 1933 at 38 years and 179 days old. Alex Rodriguez homered at 39 years and 360 days on July 25, 2015 against the Minnesota Twins.
Goldschmidt’s age at the time of Saturday’s leadoff blast puts him in that historic company. He is 62 days older than Ruth was for his final Yankees home run. Rodriguez was a full year older for his last. But no one in that group hit a leadoff home run at a greater age than Goldschmidt did Saturday.
The all-time home run list keeps moving
Saturday’s homer was more than a franchise record. Saturday’s homer was his 375th career blast. It moved him into sole possession of 82nd place on the all-time list.
Jeff Quagliata of the YES Network Research team noted on X that the blast moved Goldschmidt past Manny Machado and Rocky Colavito. Carlton Fisk is next on the list at 376. Goldschmidt needs one more to pass another Hall of Famer.
The blast was measured at a launch angle of 26 degrees. It traveled 419 feet. The exit velocity was 105.1 mph. For a player who opened the Yankees season as a depth piece, those are not soft numbers.
Social media took notice. The @BaseballWRLD_ account on X posted that Goldschmidt had as many home runs in 2026 as Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Fernando Tatis Jr. and Roman Anthony combined at that point in the season. It was written with humor. The underlying point was real.
The man filling in where it matters
Goldschmidt came into Saturday’s game batting .200 in his first 17 Yankees games of 2026. He entered May as a backup. The lineup had no everyday spot for him.
Then Ben Rice injured his left hand Sunday against Baltimore and the Yankees needed a first baseman. Goldschmidt stepped in. And he has not wasted the opportunity.
Across eight games in May through Saturday, Goldschmidt was hitting .296 with two home runs, five RBIs and seven runs scored. He was 8-for-27 in that stretch. He also added a fourth-inning RBI single when his grounder skipped off Brewers third baseman Luis Rengifo’s glove.
He finished the night as the only Yankees hitter with multiple hits, going 3-for-4 with the homer, the single and two RBIs. He has started five of the Yankees’ last six games at first base, with Rice serving as the designated hitter when available.
Rice is still working through the hand contusion that has limited him since Sunday. Goldschmidt has not been simply holding a spot. He has been producing.
What Goldschmidt’s age means in context
Goldschmidt is in his second season with the Yankees. He signed a one-year Yankees deal in February. He spent eight seasons with Arizona and five with St. Louis. He won the 2022 NL MVP Award with St. Louis and has six All-Star selections across his 16-year career.
At 38, he is the oldest position player on the active Yankees roster. The front office re-signed him knowing his role would be limited by the presence of Rice. Nobody planned for him to be leading off Yankees games in Milwaukee in May. Nobody planned for this at all.
And yet here he is. The oldest Yankee ever to lead off a game with a home run. Eighty-second on the all-time list. One away from Carlton Fisk. Making history in a loss that stings, on a night that deserved a better ending.
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