Who exactly is Aaron Judge?

The New York Yankees’ rookie right fielder has been so spectacular in the early months of the season that he qualifies for the sobriquet of phenom.

But who is Judge really? Let me offer some suggestions:

Roy Hobbs is the main character in Bernard Malamud’s 1952 novel “The Natural” and the 1984 film of the same title, a baseball player who overcomes his wound from being shot by a mysterious woman and, with his magical bat Wonderboy leads the New York Knights to the pennant. A telltale clue that links Judge to Hobbs is the crooked owner of the Knights who tries to get Hobbs to throw the playoff game for the pennant. He is known only as The Judge.

Joe Hardy (“Shoeless Joe from Hannibal Mo.”) is the character in the 1955 Broadway musical “Damn Yankees” who makes a deal with the Devil to enable the hapless Washington Senators to beat the mighty New York Yankees. Has the Yankees’ Judge made a deal with the Devil that will enable him to help make the Yankees great again?

“Crash” Davis is an aging catcher, in the 1988 film “Bull Durham,” who catches on with a minor league team to help a young pitcher, “Nuke” LaLoosh. Granted Davis is not a hitter in Judge’s class, but Kevin Costner, who played him, is said to have hit two home runs during filming with the cameras rolling.

Roy Tucker is “The Kid from Tomkinsville,” one of a highly regarded series of books by John R. Tunis, an author who in his day was to young male readers what J. K. Rowling is has been in this era.

Calico Joe Castle is the central character in John Grisham’s 2012 novel “Calico Joe,” which was inspired by the 1920 death of Ray Chapman, who was hit in the head by a Carl Mays fastball. After an improbably brilliant start to his first season¸ Castle is intentionally hit by a pitch, ending his career.

Joe Shlabotnik, Charlie Brown’s favorite baseball player, is an unlikely candidate to be Judge’s alter ego, but I thought I’d throw him in here because Charlie Brown has long been my favorite cartoon character.

All right, all of these characters are fictional. But so is Judge, isn’t he? Could any real person produce the numbers he has put next to his name? Here, at a glance, were those numbers before Saturday’s games:

• Batting Average:  .339 (AL Leader)
• Home Runs:  23 (ML Leader)
• Runs:  60 (ML Leader)
• Total Bases:  164 (AL Leader)
• Walks:  43 (AL Leader)
• On-Base Pct.:  447 (ML Leader)
• Slugging Pct.:  713 (ML Leader)
• OPS (On-Base + Slugging):  1.160 (ML Leader)

Is there any category that Judge doesn’t lead? Going into Saturday’s games, he was one r.b.i. behind Nelson Cruz of Seattle and one extra-base hit behind Corey Dickerson of Tampa Bay. He was also seventh in hits, 10 behind Dickerson.

Putting Judge’s performance in major league perspective, it would take several National League players to match Judge in terms of league-leading performance: Ryan Zimmerman (Washington) leading in batting average, slugging and OPS and tied in home runs with Joey Votto (Cincinnati) and Eric Thames (Milwaukee); Paul Goldschmidt (Arizona) leading in runs and walks; Charlie Blackmon (Colorado) in hits and total bases; Jake Lamb (Arizona) in r.b.i.

As unbelievable as Judge has been, he has shown recently that he is only human, offering several examples.

Before June 13, he struck out three times in a game only once, actually striking out four times May 21 against Tampa Bay. Suddenly, however, pitchers for the most part have had their way with the 6-foot-7 Judge.

In the Yankees’ current five-game losing streak, their longest of the season, Judge struck out three times in three of the losses, twice against the Athletics, once against the Angels. In those games he had only 5 hits in 20 at-bats, striking out 11 times.

In the June 14 game against the Angels, the Yankees went into the ninth inning losing 7-5. With Judge in the on-deck circle, Aaron Hicks rapped a two-out double. Judge, however, would not produce any last-minute heroics. He hit a grounder to third, and the Yankees lost.

The next night Judge was the leadoff hitter in the ninth inning with the Yankees losing to Oakland, 6-5. He did not tie the game with a home run, instead taking strike three.

Despite his wobbly five-game performance, Judge maintained his monstrous hold on his status as the most productive player in the American League.

The sudden strikeouts and reduced production will matter only if they are a sign of what is to come. If the season ended today and baseball writers turned in their award ballots, Judge would have to be rookie of the year and most valuable player.

Only two players have won both awards for the same season. Fred Lynn was the first, winning both awards in 1975 after leading the Boston Red Sox to the American League pennant.

Ichiro Suzuki won both awards with the Seattle Mariners in 2001, though some disputed his rookie status because he had played in the Japanese major leagues for nine years.

Think what you will of Ichiro in 2001; look at him in 2017. He is still playing, though not often (54 games, 83 at-bats) at the age of 43. He’s the kind of player every team should want on its roster.

Aaron Judge seems like that kind of player, and he’s just starting his career.

MR. ROSE, MEET MR. DOWD

What greater coincidence could occur than the one that has occurred with the re-emergence of Pete Rose and John Dowd to public attention?

Rose and Dowd go back a quarter of a century and here they are in the news at the same time, though this time for reasons unrelated to each other.

News emerged last week that the Hall of Fame’s board of directors had voted to retain its 1991 decision that no one on baseball’s permanently ineligible list be considered for the Hall of Fame. The board adopted the policy when Rose became eligible for the Hall after his five-year waiting period expired.

The board voted to retain the Rose rule in acting on Rose’s request for consideration. Rose has been unable to convince former Commissioner Bud Selig or current Commissioner Rob Manfred to remove him from the permanently ineligible list.

Rose, 76 years old, has always had hope of getting into the Hall as the player with the most hits (4,256), but he now must face the reality that if he wants to get into the Hall he will have to buy a ticket.

As for Dowd, the 76-year-old Washington, D.C., lawyer, he is the man whose investigation led to Rose’s seat on the permanently ineligible list. The investigation was brilliant and left Rose no wiggle room.

Dowd is back in the news because last week President Donald Trump hired him for his legal team to deal with possible ramifications of the special counsel’s investigation into contacts Trump or his staff might have had with Russian officials and the President’s dismissal of the F.B.I. director, James Comey.

Dowd will join Trump’s other lawyers in trying to persuade him to stop unleashing early morning tweets, which often seem to work against his best interests.

MISGUIDED WISHFUL THINKING

Over the many decades I have covered baseball, I don’t think I have ever heard anything so silly as the comments last week of Democratic and Republican Congressmen and women saying the shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise could lead to better, more civil relations between the two sides.

Whom are they kidding? Themselves?

Democratic members of the House of Representatives showed proper respect and concern for the seriously wounded Congressman, Steve Scalise, and they certainly hoped he would recover, but there is plenty of fight left on both sides.

And it would be wishful thinking to believe the Washington warriors will reach agreement on critical issues, such as health care, any faster than they otherwise would. That may sound like cynical thinking, but I would call it realistic thinking.

There’s nothing wrong with contentious discussion. Just keep the weapons locked up.