Alex Rodriguez, the New York Yankees’ slugging third baseman, hit his 599th home run on Thursday, July 22, off the Kansas City Royals in relief of Tejeda. One week went by without connecting to another circuit of clout, his entry into one of Major League Baseball’s most exclusive ranks: the 600 Homer Club.
A-Rod is known for failing when it comes to hitting the bank. It took nine games between home runs #499 and #500, including an anemic .107 batting average. He hit #500 on August 4, 2007, almost exactly three years ago.
When A-Rod finally sets out for the 60th season in his major league career, he will join Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr., Willy Mays, Babe Ruth and Sammy Sosa in the 600 Home Run Club. Like Bonds and Sosa, A-Rod’s career has been tainted by the revelation that he used performance enhancing drugs.
All of the players who hit 600 home runs have been inducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. While it’s unlikely that Sammy Sosa will enjoy that honor, A-Rod and Barry Bonds will probably make it due to their ferocious performances and performances. Both were Gold Glove winners and won multiple Most Valuable Player Awards, with Bonds taking three of his seven games before PEDs began. A-Rod has three MVP awards.
600 Homer + Beyond
Babe Ruth, the legendary “Sultan of Swat”, founded the DC Home Run Club on August 22, 1931, when in < a href="https://e-info.vn/tag/city-park">City Park hits the Mississippi River. Babe was also a charter member of the 200, 300, 300, 400 and 700 Homer Clubs.
The Babe hit his 200th homer on May 12, 1923 and his 700th homer on July 13th, 1934. At the time he established the 700 Homer Club, only Lou Gehrig and Rogers Hornsby had 300 career home runs.
Babe Ruth retired on May 30, 1935 with a total of 714 home runs, a record that stood for 39 years until it was broken by Hank Aaron on April 8, 1974. Hammering Hank’s new career record 755 tingers, in turn. Posted by Barry Bonds on August 7, 2007.
A-Rod will likely join Aaron, Bonds and Ruth in the 700 Homer One Day Club, and have a chance to start the 800 Home Run Club if he holds up. In the past two seasons he has been plagued by hip pain.
600 Homer Club Membership
Here is a list of the 600 members of the Home Run Club, in ascending order of their home run tallies;
Sammy Sosa: 609
Ken Griffey, Jr
Willie Mays: 660
Babe Ruth: 714
Hank Aaron: 755
Barry Bonds: 762
Jim Thome, who is 39 years old has 576 dances and 12 tissues This season with the Minnesota Twins, and 38-year-old Manny Ramirez, who hit 554 (including eight with the 2010 Los Angeles Dodgers) may one day join the 600 Homer Club.
Albert Pujols, who at 30 years old has already hit 389 home runs, will likely join the club as well. He has blown out 23 home runs for the St. Louis Cardinals so far this season, and led the National League with 47 last season, when he won his third MVP award.
Report:
- ESPN [includes video]: A-Rod hits 599th career homer sports.espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/news/story?id=5402898
- Baseball Reference.com, Career Leaders & Records for home runs www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/HR_career.shtml
www.nytimes.com/2010/07/30/sports/baseball /30yankees.html
