500*

When I was a kid, a 500th home run was a seminal moment in a Hall of Fame player's career, and usually in the waning days of it. I remember Mickey Mantle limping around the bases after swatting his 500th, the back pages of the NY papers aglow with the aging superstar's accomplishment.

Last night, Jim Thome hit his 610th to pass Sammy Sosa for seventh place on the all-time list. Apropos for a man of such humility, there was little fanfare. We're so jaded about big flies, particularly in the wake of the Steroid Era*, with the DH lengthening careers and allowing one-dimensional players to hang on and collect stats, we hardly pause to note such milestones. Moreover, in an era of OPS and WAR, the eminence of the home run has somewhat faded.

*The Baseball rulebook requires that The Steroid Era be capitalized, much as the Cretaceous Era would be.

Consider: there will be vigorous discussion over the Hall worthiness of both Sosa and Thome. Barry Bonds, the all-time king, and Alex Rodriguez, who has 700 in his sights, will both pass through a gauntlet before getting their busts. (I suspect Thome gets his; Sosa is more questionable.)

There are now 25 members of the 500 Club, with Albert Pujols bearing down on it. Not one of them fails the numbers test for Cooperstown, but Mark McGwire (583), Manny Ramirez (555) and Rafael Palmeiro (569) will all face considerable opposition.

Once upon a time*, 400 was near automatic for enshrinement, with only Dave Kingman and his .302 OBP and iron glove on the outside looking in. I'm not sure a single member of the recent crop would get my vote: Fred McGriff (493), Carlos Delgado (473), Jose Canseco (462), Vlad Guerrero (449), Juan Gonzalez (434), Andruw Jones (432 and counting), Jason Giambi (429), Paul Konerko (410 and counting) and David Ortiz (401 and counting). (I haven't given much thought to Delgado, Vlad and Big Papi. They're all legitimate candidates -- better than Jim Rice -- but hardly the locks that 400 home runs bestowed upon their predecessors.)

*August, 2001

When the Mick hung 'em up after the 1968 season, he was third on the all-time home run list; he's 16th today. Billy Williams (426) was 16th on the list upon retirement in 1976. He's 45th today. A lot of good hitters are going yard 400 times, but it's no longer solely the province of all-time greats.

b