Complete list of every Yankees captain before Aaron Judge

The Babe: Babe Ruth, 1922

Wait ... what did Babe Ruth do to lose the captaincy after just one year?! Did they not know he was the Babe Ruth?

Hmm. Maybe it was all the drinking, carousing, belching, belly-aching and meat consumption. Probably difficult for a fledgling team to be captained by a superstar who might go missing for hours at a time and wake up on the floor of the firehouse.

Still, Ruth was typically incredible in that season, leading the league in OPS and hitting 35 bombs in just 110 games. But where to begin...

He was suspended to begin the season for barnstorming during the offseason (thanks, Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis!), then returned and climbed into the stands to scream at some train workers who were heckling him, leaping atop the dugout and daring the entire crowd to come and fight him. If Judge tries this move in 2023, it might make the national news. Could be an interesting way to get baseball back in the mainstream.

That led to...

Everett Scott, 1922-1925

...the Yankees picking another well-behaved and slick-fielding shortstop in the Peckinpaugh mold to steer their ship.

And it worked! The 1923 Yankees won the franchise's first World Series, and with Ruth freed from the duties of the position, he socked a league-leading 41 homers and 130 RBI. Win-win.