The Yankees’ trip to the US Open was supposed to be a low-key off-day outing with a little star power mixed in. Aaron Judge’s return to the public eye was the headline New York wanted. Jazz Chisholm Jr. made sure the internet had something else to talk about.
A group of Yankees turned up Monday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, with Judge and his wife, Samantha Bracksieck, joining Chisholm, Cody Bellinger and his wife, Chase Carter Bellinger, Ben Rice, Spencer Jones, George Lombard Jr., Clarke Schmidt and José Caballero. Judge and Bracksieck watched Coco Gauff beat fellow American Iva Jovic 6-1, 6-4 at Arthur Ashe Stadium, while Jones and Lombard were also in attendance, with Lombard accompanied by his mother, Judy.
For Judge, the night came with a much bigger baseball backdrop. The Yankees reinstated him from the 60-day injured list Monday, and he’s set to play Tuesday against the Rockies.
He hasn’t appeared in a game since May 31 because of a right rib stress fracture. After working through batting practice, high-velocity pitching machines and pitch-tracking work, he skipped a minor league rehab assignment and now gives Aaron Boone a huge bat back in the lineup with 19 games left in the regular season.
That context matters, because the Yankees are still very much in the race. They entered Tuesday at 81-62, four games behind Tampa Bay in the AL East and two games ahead of Boston for the top American League wild-card spot. So yes, the team’s appearance in Queens drew attention for the usual celebrity reasons - but also because this is a club with real stakes hanging over every move right now.
Then there was Chisholm.
The Yankees second baseman walked the blue carpet at Louis Armstrong Stadium wearing a light-colored T-shirt that said, “I’m a virgin.” He layered it with a small purple-striped vest and shorts covered in handprint graphics, and the shirt’s message was impossible to miss once the photos and video started making the rounds online. A New York Post Sports video helped spread the look, and the reaction came fast.
The online responses were mostly jokes, criticism and plenty of disbelief. @DingerKingBets called it “Humiliation ritual”
Another user, @statusmvp, zeroed in on the shorts: “Everyone focused on the shirt?? The pockets on those shorts have hand prints for someone who has 15 fingers…🐦⬛.”
A third commenter took aim at the overall look: “All that money to look like a bum… I don’t get it 😕,” he wrote.
Others went straight for the styling. “Get the dude a stylist 😭.” one fan posted.
X User @bogaertsgoat wrote, “Hating aside this is genuinely one of the worst fits I’ve ever seen.”
Account @grecianfive added, “My culture is not a costume.”
And @owndodgerhaters kept it short: “Massively corny individual”
That reaction, though loud, is still just that - reaction. The reporting does not show a team issue, a discipline matter or any verified backlash beyond the social-media pile-on. Chisholm has not offered a verified explanation for the outfit, and neither he, Boone nor the club has tied it to any clubhouse problem.
There’s also a baseball layer to the whole thing. Chisholm’s season has been uneven, but the numbers are still loud enough to matter: through Sept. 7, he’s at .230 with 19 home runs, 55 RBIs, 40 stolen bases and a .713 OPS in 133 games. He reached 40 steals on Aug. 30 against Boston, and one more homer would give him a second straight 20-homer, 40-steal season after he finished 2024 with 24 homers and 40 steals.
He’s also heading toward free agency after the season, which means the Yankees will be weighing his production, defense and contract value when they sort out their future at second base. The outfit may have owned the night online, but it doesn’t tell anyone how the team will handle those decisions.
The Yankees open their series against Colorado at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, with Cam Schlittler set to face Gabriel Hughes. Judge is expected back in the lineup, and the club moves on from a US Open appearance that gave New York one clean headline, one loud distraction, and plenty of chatter in between.
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