The unwritten automatic entre into the National Baseball Hall of Fame was 500 home runs in a Major League career. If you hit 500 or more homers you would be elected into the Hall. To get to 600 home runs was another matter altogether and very few players ever got to that level. Since the beginning of the Major Leagues only the following have hit that many:- Barry Bonds – 762 CHEATER!
- Hank Aaron – 755 (Hall of Fame)
- Babe Ruth – 714 (Hall of Fame)
- Willie Mays – 660 (Hall of Fame)
- Ken Griffey – 630 (Future Hall of Fame)
- Sammy Sosa – 609 CHEATER!
At the moment Alex Rodriguez (aka A-Roid, also a CHEATER!) third baseman for the New York Yankees sits at 599 homers. The Yankees had Rawlings make specially stamped commemorative baseballs for their last home stand to celebrate glorious number 600. Well he didn’t hit it on that home stand and the Yanks are now on the road. There is only one difference between A-Roid, Bonds and Sosa and the rest of the list above: they all cheated and took steroids. Babe Ruth was a phenomenal pitcher with the Boston Red Sox before coming to the New York Yankees and becoming arguably the greatest player of all time. Willie Mays was in my opinion the best all-around baseball player that ever lived. Say Hey Kid could do it all and make it look effortless. Ted Williams once said the All-Star Game was made for players like Willie Mays. Hank Aaron was an incredible ballplayer who hit for power, average, had speed and was a great outfielder (won 3 Gold Gloves). Hammerin’ Hank once said the strongest thing he ever took was aspirin. A-Roid claimed he never took steroids then claimed he only took them for three years while playing for the Texas Rangers. In my opinion he’s quite the liar. My question is how many Yankee, Texas Ranger and Seattle Mariner fans really care about his 600th home run? I’ve read a lot linking A-Roid to steroids, but I found the stories from SI.com, ESPN.com and SI.com interesting.
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