TAMPA — It was hyped as Barry Bonds paired with Hank Aaron in batting practice and turned out more like Brendan Ryan and Reid Brignac.
For the roughly 2,000 people who entered George M. Steinbrenner Field on Monday to watch Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton hit in the same batting practice group expecting thunder, they were treated to burps instead during the first full-squad Yankees workout.
The estimated crowd number was larger than the past few years but nowhere near the crowds when Roger Clemens, Hideki Matsui, Jason Giambi, Randy Johnson and Alex Rodriguez arrived for their first days of spring training with the Yankees, like Stanton did Monday.