Nora Rose Judge is the daughter of New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge and his wife, Samantha Bracksieck. She was born on January 27, 2025, two days after her dad skipped his own MVP dinner to wait for her arrival. Since then, the three-time American League MVP has called her his “new boss,” and he says she is the reason a bad night at the ballpark no longer follows him home.
| Date of Birth | January 27, 2025 |
|---|---|
| Age | 1 year |
| Nationality | American |
| Zodiac Sign | Aquarius |
| Father | Aaron Judge (New York Yankees captain and outfielder) |
| Mother | Samantha Bracksieck |
| Paternal Grandparents | Patty and Wayne Judge |
| Uncle | John Judge |
| Siblings | None |
| Birth Announcement | February 5, 2025, on Instagram |
Biography
Nora Rose Judge was born on Monday, January 27, 2025. She is the first child of Aaron and Samantha, who married in Maui, Hawaii, in December 2021. Her parents have kept the place of her birth private.
Baseball fans knew she was on the way. On January 25, 2025, Aaron missed the Baseball Writers’ Association of America dinner in New York, where he was due to collect his 2024 AL MVP award. In a recorded video played at the dinner, he said, “My wife Samantha and I are expecting our first child any day and could unfortunately not make it.”
Aaron shared the news on Instagram on February 5, 2025. The post was a black-and-white photo of the newborn’s feet, with the caption, “1/27/25 Nora Rose Judge. What an incredible week it’s been, can’t wait for the memories the three of us make.” Nora is American, and her January 27 birthday makes her an Aquarius.
Early Life
Nora’s parents look after her themselves. MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch wrote in June 2025 that the couple care for her “on their own; no nanny, no night nurse.” Aaron told him, “I love doing it all. Especially if it helps her, or helps my wife.”
Game days in the Judge home start slowly. “I’ll wake up, go downstairs with her, just kind of hang out,” Aaron told MLB.com. “I’ll feed her; my wife will feed her. Really, it’s just me holding her, walking around the apartment.” On off-days, the family heads to the park, and an early game leaves time for what he called “tummy time.”
Diapers were the big surprise of those first months. Aaron changed his first one in the hospital after watching a nurse do it. In a March 2025 interview with MLB Network at spring training, he rated himself a 10 out of 10 at diaper duty and said Nora was already “sleeping through the night.” He added, “She’s been a blessing. My wife, she’s killing it right now.”
By 2026, Nora was walking and starting to talk. Speaking on the Home Grown podcast with David and Derek Carr in June 2026, Aaron said he comes back from a 10-game road trip to find “she’s saying a new word or she’s doing something new.” He joked that he turns to his wife and asks, “Who is this new child we got in our house?” Nora doesn’t follow baseball yet, but “she knows clapping,” he said, so she claps along whenever a crowd does.
Her Parents’ Careers
Nora’s father is one of the biggest stars in baseball. Aaron Judge was born in April 1992 and grew up in Linden, California, and he has spent his whole Major League career with the Yankees. In December 2022, he signed a nine-year, $360 million contract that runs through 2031, and the club named him the 16th captain in its history.
He won the 2024 AL MVP after leading the majors with 58 home runs and 144 RBIs, a few months before Nora arrived. In 2025, Nora’s first year, he hit .331 with 53 home runs and 114 RBIs, won the batting title and took his second straight AL MVP on November 13, 2025. That third MVP put him alongside Yankees greats Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Joe DiMaggio.
The milestones kept coming in 2026. On January 27, 2026, Nora’s first birthday, he was named the cover athlete for MLB The Show 26, making him only the second player after Joe Mauer to appear on the cover twice. In March, he captained Team USA at the World Baseball Classic, where the Americans lost the final 3-2 to Venezuela on March 17.
Nora’s mother, Samantha Bracksieck, has a sports science background of her own. She met Aaron at Linden High School, according to ESPN, and both later went to Fresno State. She studied kinesiology there, and her graduate research looked at elbow angles in the throwing motion and the risk of ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) injuries in Major League players. She avoids interviews, but she has run the New York City Marathon several times, with Aaron waiting at the finish line.
Aaron Judge on Fatherhood
Aaron’s most quoted line about Nora came from Derek Jeter. Speaking with Jeter on FOX Sports at Dodger Stadium on May 31, 2025, he said fatherhood “makes those 0-for-4s a little easier, coming home and you see her smile.” He then praised Samantha for “what she went through through her whole pregnancy” and added, “I know Mr. Steinbrenner is a boss, but Nora Rose is definitely a new boss.”
Ahead of his first Father’s Day in June 2025, he told MLB.com, “She brings me so much joy, so much excitement, so much wonder.” He also said she keeps him steady. “She definitely calms me,” he said. “She’s a calming presence, which is pretty wild. You almost fall asleep when you’re holding her.”
He sees being her dad as his most important role. “My most important and biggest job is being [Nora’s] father, supporting her, loving her,” he told MLBbro.com in June 2025. He told the New York Post, “It’s probably the biggest title I got, getting a chance to be my daughter’s dad; that’s special.”
He already knows what he wants to teach her. “I just want to teach her the importance of hard work, the importance of showing up every day for something, and the importance of being a team player,” he told MLB.com. At the 2025 All-Star red carpet in Atlanta, an 11-year-old reporter, Tayleen Biggs, asked what he hopes Nora learns from watching him. He called it the best question he’d had all day.
A year later, his answer on the Home Grown podcast was the same in spirit. He said that even after an 0-for-5 night with three strikeouts, everything changes “the minute I walk through that door and I see her running up and she’s smiling.” “She doesn’t know what just happened at work. She just sees dad’s home.” He said that moment helps him “flush the bad games or even the good games, too.”
Much of his approach comes from his own parents. Patty and Wayne Judge, both teachers in Linden, adopted Aaron the day after he was born. At Yankees spring training in February 2026, he told reporters on YES Network that “watching them be teachers and how they treated their students day in and day out” shaped who he is. Of his dad, he told MLBbro.com, “The biggest lesson I take away is the quality time.”
Tributes to Nora on and off the Field
Aaron started the 2025 season with Nora’s name on his glove. Sports Illustrated reported that he shared a custom pink Rawlings glove with “Nora Rose” embroidered in purple on his Instagram Stories, captioned only with a rose and a purple heart.
His teammate Giancarlo Stanton added a piece of jewelry. The New York Post reported in June 2025 that Stanton gave him a $20,000 gavel pendant in 14-karat white gold with more than 12 carats of VVS diamonds. It is engraved with “Nora,” her birth date “1/27/25,” “Sam” for Samantha, the names of the family dogs, Gus and Penny, and “2x” for his first two MVP awards. Aaron wore it at the 2025 All-Star Game, where he also swung a bat with Nora’s name painted on it.
Personal Life
Nora rarely appears in public, and her parents usually keep her face out of photos. Her biggest moment came on October 2, 2025, after the Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 4-0 in Game 3 of the AL Wild Card Series at Yankee Stadium. She crawled on the field while her parents watched, and ESPN shared a clip of Aaron scooping her up for a hug.
A few weeks after his November 2025 MVP win, Aaron posted a season recap on Instagram with photos of the family of three, including one of him kissing Nora on the cheek. “2025, the job still isn’t finished,” he wrote. “Excited to get back to work in front of the greatest fans in the world.”
Nora is the only child of Aaron and Samantha. Her grandparents on her dad’s side are Patty and Wayne Judge, and her uncle, John Judge, is Aaron’s older brother, whom the Judges adopted in 1985. Two small dogs, Penny and Gus, complete the household.
Timeline
- December 2021: Aaron Judge and Samantha Bracksieck marry at the Montage Kapalua Bay resort in Maui, Hawaii.
- December 2022: Aaron signs a nine-year, $360 million deal and becomes the 16th captain in Yankees history.
- January 25, 2025: Aaron misses the BBWAA dinner and says in a video that he and Samantha are expecting their first child any day.
- January 27, 2025: Nora Rose Judge is born.
- February 5, 2025: Aaron announces her birth on Instagram with a black-and-white photo of her feet.
- February 2025: Aaron shows off a pink Rawlings glove with “Nora Rose” embroidered on it.
- March 6, 2025: On MLB Network, Aaron says Nora is sleeping through the night and rates his diaper skills a 10.
- May 31, 2025: Aaron tells Derek Jeter on FOX Sports that Nora Rose is his “new boss.”
- June 2025: The New York Post reveals the diamond gavel pendant from Giancarlo Stanton, engraved with Nora’s name and birth date.
- June 15, 2025: Aaron marks his first Father’s Day as a dad.
- July 2025: Aaron uses a bat with Nora’s name on it at the All-Star Game in Atlanta.
- October 2, 2025: Nora appears on the Yankee Stadium field after the Wild Card win over Boston.
- November 13, 2025: Aaron wins his second straight AL MVP, the third of his career.
- November 2025: Aaron shares a season recap on Instagram with rare family photos of Nora.
- January 27, 2026: Nora turns one, and Aaron is named the MLB The Show 26 cover athlete the same day.
- March 17, 2026: Aaron captains Team USA in the World Baseball Classic final, a 3-2 loss to Venezuela.
- June 2026: On the Home Grown podcast, Aaron says Nora is running to greet him and learning new words.
Frequently Asked Questions
When was Nora Rose Judge born?
Nora Rose Judge was born on January 27, 2025. She turned one on January 27, 2026.
Who are Nora Rose Judge’s parents?
Her parents are Yankees captain Aaron Judge and Samantha Bracksieck. The couple met at Linden High School in California and married in Maui in December 2021.
How many children does Aaron Judge have?
Aaron Judge has one child, his daughter Nora Rose, born in January 2025.
How did Aaron Judge announce his daughter’s birth?
He posted a black-and-white photo of her feet on Instagram on February 5, 2025, with the caption “1/27/25 Nora Rose Judge.”
What has Aaron Judge said about his daughter?
He told Derek Jeter in May 2025 that “Nora Rose is definitely a new boss.” He has also said she calms him and helps him forget bad games the moment he gets home.










