600 home run club#700 home run club
{{Short description|Group of Major League Baseball batters who hit 600+ regular-season home runs in their careers}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2015}}
File:Babe Ruth2.jpg was the first player to reach 600 home runs. He set a career home run mark of 714 that stood until 1974.|alt=A man in full baseball attire wears a pinstriped jersey and a hat with overlapping white "N" and "Y". Looking to the left of the camera, he is holding a baseball bat upward.]]
In Major League Baseball (MLB), the 600 home run club is a group of batters who have hit 600 or more regular-season home runs in their careers.{{cite web |last1=Kelly |first1=Matt |title=The 600 Home Run Club: Only nine players reside on one of baseball's most exclusive lists |url=https://www.mlb.com/news/members-of-the-600-home-run-club |website=mlb.com |publisher=Major League Baseball |access-date=2 July 2023}} Only nine players have qualified. Four of these—Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez—are also members of the 3,000 hit club.
History
On August 21, 1931, two years and 10 days after becoming the charter member of the 500 home run club, Babe Ruth hit his 600th career homer in a game in which his New York Yankees defeated the St. Louis Browns 11–7.{{cite web |title=This Date in Baseball: Babe Ruth hit his 600th home run. |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2022/08/20/this-date-in-baseball-babe-ruth-hit-his-600th-home-run/50619895/ |work=USA Today |access-date=2 July 2023}} It took another 34 years for another member to join the club, so rare a feat was hitting 600 career homers.
On September 22, 1969, Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants hit his 600th home run in a game against the San Diego Padres, an expansion team in its first year of existence.{{cite web |title=U.S. Census Bureau History: Willie Mays' 600th Home Run |url=https://www.census.gov/history/www/homepage_archive/2019/september_2019.html |website=census.gov |publisher=US Census Bureau |access-date=2 July 2023}} Hank Aaron joined the 600 homer club on April 21, 1971, off of future fellow Hall of Famer{{cite web |title=This Date in Baseball - Hank Aaron hits 600th career home |url=https://apnews.com/article/baseball-history-973ebd89d7a23222e3ba297542777940 |website=apnews.com |date=April 27, 2023 |publisher=Associated Press |access-date=2 July 2023}} Gaylord Perry in a game in which his Atlanta Braves lost to the San Francisco Giants team that included the only other living 600 homer club member, Willie Mays.
For the following 31 years, there were only three members of the 600 home run club, all first-ballot Hall of Famers and three of the greatest legends of the game. Then, Willie Mays' godson, Barry Bonds, joined the 600 homer club on August 9, 2002, as a member of the Giants, hitting a homer off of Pittsburgh Pirates' pitcher Kip Wells.{{cite web |title=This Date in Baseball-Barry Bonds hit his 600th homer |url=https://apnews.com/article/baseball-history-20e55caff45c5f8e96b7fa30218ce7be |website=apnews.org |date=August 8, 2022 |publisher=Associated Press |access-date=2 July 2023}}
Bonds made it into the club the season after he set the single-season homer record in all organized baseball, when he hit 73 homers in 2001. (Minor Leaguer Joe Bauman had hit 72 in the Class C Longhorn League in 1954.{{cite news |last1=Goldstein |first1=Richard |title=Joe Bauman, 83, Who Hit 72 Homers as Minor Leaguer, Dies |work=The New York Times |date=September 22, 2005 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/22/sports/baseball/joe-bauman-83-who-hit-72-homers-as-minor-leaguer-dies.html }}) On June 20, 2007, Sammy Sosa became the fifth member of the 600 homer club. A long-time member of the Chicago Cubs, Sosa hit his milestone against his former team while a member of the Texas Rangers in an interleague game.{{cite news |title=Sosa hits 600th home run |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-baseball-sosa-idUSSP17395520070621 |website=reuters.com |date=June 21, 2007 |agency=Reuters |access-date=2 July 2023}} Almost a year later, Ken Griffey Jr. joined the club on June 9, 2008, as a Cincinnati Reds player against the Florida Marlins.{{cite web |title=Today in History, June 9, 2008: Ken Griffey Jr. hits 600th home run |url=https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2019/06/09/today-history-june-9-2008-ken-griffey-jr-hits-600th-home-run/1385098001/#:~:text=2008%20Ken%20Griffey%20Jr.%20became%20the%20sixth%20player,Cincinnati%20Reds%27%209-4%20victory%20over%20the%20Florida%20Marlins. |website=cincinnati.com |publisher=Cincinnati Enquirer |access-date=2 July 2023}} Three years to the day after Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees became the youngest member of the 500 homer club, he became the youngest player to join the 600th homer club, on August 4, 2010, in a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankees Stadium.{{cite web |title=Alex Rodriguez Hits 600th Home Run |url=https://www.foxnews.com/sports/alex-rodriguez-hits-600th-home-run |access-date=2 July 2023 |work=Fox News|date=March 27, 2015 }} A year later, on August 15, 2011, Jim Thome of the Detroit Tigers hit career homers 599 and 600 against the Minnesota Twins.{{cite web |title=Thome blasts No. 600 |url=https://www.postbulletin.com/sports/thome-blasts-no-600 |website=postbulletin.com |date=August 16, 2011 |publisher=Rochester Post Bulletin |access-date=2 July 2023}} On June 3, 2017, future 700 homer club member Albert Pujols of the Los Angeles Angels hit his 600th homer, a grandslam off of Ervin Santana of the Twins.{{cite web |title=This Date in Baseball - Albert Pujols hits his 600th home run of his career |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2023/06/02/this-date-in-baseball-albert-pujols-hits-his-600th-home-run-of-his-career/70281126007/ |work=USA Today |access-date=2 July 2023}} Pujols became the ninth, and so-far last member of the 600 homer club.
=Hall of Fame=
File:20060825 Barry Bonds follow through.jpg (pictured here in 2006) joined the 600 home run club in 2002 and set a new career home run record of 762 in 2007.|alt=An African American man in a white baseball uniform with "GIANTS" on the chest takes a left-handed baseball swing as a catcher kneels behind him to receive the pitch.]]
In the past, membership in the 500 home run club let alone the 600 homer club was a guarantee of eventual entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame.{{cite web|url=https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-sheffield500th041809|title=500 home run club losing its cachet | first=Jeff |last=Passan |author-link=Jeff Passan |date=April 18, 2009|work=Yahoo! Sports|publisher=Yahoo!|access-date=July 15, 2010}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/sports/baseball/27thome.html?_r=1|title=500 Home Runs, Zero Certainty for Thome | last=Curry | first=Jack |date=April 27, 2008|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=July 15, 2010}}{{cite news|url=http://www.tampabay.com/sports/baseball/ml/article994088.ece|title=Gary Sheffield's 500 home runs is merely a number, and not a very special one|last=Romano|first=John|date=April 22, 2009|newspaper=St. Petersburg Times|publisher=www.tampabay.com|access-date=July 15, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607223900/http://www.tampabay.com/sports/baseball/ml/article994088.ece|archive-date=June 7, 2011|df=mdy-all}}{{cite web|url=http://bleacherreport.com/articles/158683-why-500-home-runs-no-longer-guarantees-admission-to-the-hall-of-fame|title=Why 500 Home Runs No Longer Guarantees Admission to the Hall of Fame | last=Swartz | first=Cody |date=April 19, 2009|publisher=Bleacher Report|access-date=July 15, 2010}}
All three players who became members of the 600 home run club between 1931 and 1971 are members of the Hall of Fame. Of the five players who made the 600 homer club between 2002 and 2011 who are Hall of Fame eligible, three have been enshrined in Cooperstown. Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa have not been elected to the Hall. Bonds is one of only four members of the 700 home run club; Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron are Hall of Famers, while the recently retired Albert Pujols, who hit 703 career home runs, is not eligible until 2027.
Bonds and Sosa made their first appearance on the Hall of Fame ballot in {{bhofy|2013}}; Bonds received only 36.2% and Sosa 12.5% of the total votes, with 75% required for induction.{{cite press release|url=http://baseballhall.org/news/press-releases/2013-hall-fame-vote-shutout |title=2013 Hall of Fame Vote a Shutout |publisher=National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum |date=January 9, 2013 |access-date=January 9, 2013}} Both Bonds and Sosa had ties to performance-enhancing drugs.{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/mlb/hof12/story/_/id/7439370/2013-hall-fame-ballot-all-performance-enhancing-drugs |title=Whopper of a list of names await in 2013 |first=Tim |last=Kurkjian |author-link=Tim Kurkjian |work=ESPN.com |date=January 9, 2012 |access-date=May 11, 2012}} Eligibility requires that a player has "been retired five seasons" or be deceased for at least six months. Some believe that by not electing Mark McGwire (583 career homers) to the Hall the voters were establishing a "referendum" on how they would treat players from the "Steroid Era".{{cite news |url=https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=2734799 |title=Bonds says Rose, McGwire belong in Hall of Fame |access-date=July 15, 2010|date=January 18, 2007|work=ESPN.com|agency=Associated Press}}{{cite news|url=http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/16541906/|title=McGwire denied Hall; Gwynn, Ripken get in|access-date=July 15, 2010|date=January 10, 2007|work=NBC Sports|agency=Associated Press|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121009125331/http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/16541906/|archive-date=October 9, 2012|url-status=dead}}
=Other milestones=
Babe Ruth holds the highest batting average (.340) among the club members, while Sammy Sosa holds the lowest (.273).
The New York Yankees and the San Francisco Giants are the only franchises to see two players reach the milestone while on their roster: for the Yankees, Ruth and Rodriguez while Mays and Bonds did it for the Giants.
Two members of the club were born outside of the United States: Sosa and Pujols were both born in the Dominican Republic.
Members
- Stats updated as of end of the 2024 season.
File:Albert Pujols on May 19, 2008.jpg is the most recent addition to the club.]]
| class="wikitable"
|+Key |
| scope="row"|Player
|Name of the player |
|---|
| scope="row"|HR
|Career home runs |
| scope="row"|Date
|Date of the player's 600th home run |
| scope="row"|Team
|The batter's team at the time of his 600th home run |
| scope="row"|Seasons
|The seasons this player played in the major leagues |
| scope="row" style="background:#ffb;"|*
|Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame |
| scope="row" style="background:#cfecec;"|{{double-dagger}}
|Denotes player who is still active |
700 home run club
Four members of the 600 homer club have gone on to break the 700 home run threshold: Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols. Alex Rodriguez, who was suspended for 211 games including the entire 2014 season for violating MLB policy on performance-enhancing drugs,{{cite web |title=A-Rod Suspended 211 Games By MLB In Biogenesis Case |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/alex-rodriguez-suspended-by-major-league-baseball/ |website=CBS News |date=August 5, 2013 |publisher=CBS New York |access-date=2 July 2023}} came up shy with 696 homers.
Ruth started the 700 homer club on July 13, 1934,{{cite web |last1=Larkin |first1=Kevin |title=July 13, 1934: The Babe bashes 700th career home run |url=https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/july-13-1934-the-babe-bashes-700th-career-home-run/ |website=sabr.com |publisher=Society for American Baseball Research |access-date=2 July 2023}} and was the sole member for 39 years until Hank Aaron belted his 700th homer on July 21, 1973.{{cite web |last1=Wilson |first1=Burt |title=49 years ago, Braves' Henry Aaron hit his 700th career home run off Phillies' Ken Brett |url=https://lancasteronline.com/sports/mlb/49-years-ago-braves-henry-aaron-hit-his-700th-career-home-run-off-phillies-ken/article_fd3bc92a-084f-11ed-a819-1f7a8972cf46.html |website=lancasteronline.com |publisher=Lancaster County News |access-date=2 July 2023}} They were the exclusive members for another 32 years.
Barry Bonds hit his 700th career home run on September 17, 2004, off of Jake Peavy of the Padres{{cite news |title=Bonds Hits Home Run No. 700 |work=The New York Times |date=September 17, 2004 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/17/sports/baseball/bonds-hits-home-run-no-700.html |access-date=2 July 2023}} while Albert Pujols became a member of the 700 homer club after hitting two in a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 23, 2022.{{cite web |last1=Lev |first1=Jacob |title=Albert Pujols becomes the 4th player in MLB history to hit 700 career home runs |url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/23/sport/albert-pujols-700-career-home-runs-spt/index.html |work=CNN|date=September 24, 2022 |access-date=2 July 2023}}
Outside MLB
{{See also|List of top Nippon Professional Baseball home run hitters}}
Only two players have over 600 verified career home runs outside of Major League Baseball, both of them playing in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Sadaharu Oh, who played 22 seasons with the Yomiuri Giants, holds the world career home run record with 868, nearly 100 more than Barry Bond's total in MLB; he hit his 600th home run in the third inning of a May 30, 1974 game against the Hanshin Tigers at Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya.{{cite web |title=Sadaharu Oh |url=https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/sadaharu-oh/ |website=SABR |publisher=Society for American Baseball Research}} Katsuya Nomura, the only other member of NPB's 600 home run club, joined Oh almost exactly a year later while with the Nankai Hawks, in the 8th inning of a May 22 game against the Nippon-Ham Fighters at Korakuen Stadium.
See also
{{Portal|Baseball}}
References
;General
- {{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/HR_career.shtml|title=Career Leaders & Records for Home Runs|work=Baseball-Reference.com|access-date=July 15, 2010}}
- {{cite web|url=http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/history/milestones/index.jsp?feature=five_hundred_hr|title=500 Home Run Club – Milestones|work=MLB.com|publisher=Major League Baseball|access-date=July 15, 2010}}
;Specific
{{reflist|30em}}
{{600 home run club}}
{{Major League Baseball records}}
Category:Major League Baseball statistics