On Saturday, when he takes the mound for the Athletics, J.P. Sears will try his best to make Aaron Judge’s day miserable. But the left-hander has nothing but fond memories of the captain from his early days with the New York Yankees.

There will be many firsts in West Sacramento now that the A’s have brought Major League Baseball temporarily to the capital region. For Yankees superstar Aaron Judge, the weekend marks the first time he’s playing professional baseball in the town in which he was born.

Judge has connections and Sears accepted the kind gesture for a night out with his parents, who traveled from their home in South Carolina to be in New York for their very special Opening Day at Yankee Stadium. Here’s more on what Judge did from Sears, who was traded to the A’s in July of ’22 in a package of prospects for pitcher Frankie Montas: