A-Rod is Youngest Ever to 500 [David Stefanini]

Alex Rodriguez has officially become the youngest player to ever hit 500 career home runs. We all knew he would eventually have this record, the question was just when. Well that question was answered in the first inning, on the very first pitch that A-Rod saw.

It is beautiful to watch a player with such a perfect swing achieve milestones like this. When A-Rod swings the bat it looks perfect. He does it with such ease he makes the players around him look bad.

However, I think there is cause for concern on behalf of Yankee nation. When the pressure was on for him to get this home run it took him forever. It put him into a career-tying long 0-21 slump. The past few games he started swinging the bat well though. I think a lot of Yankee fans have to take a step back and say is this going to happen in October? We all know how good A-Rod is in the regular season, we now know he can be great in the 9th inning of baseball games, the question still remains can he do it in the postseason?

With all that said, we should be grateful to have the opportunity to watch A-Rod play. Now the countdown is going to be to #600. Then after that #700, and who knows from there. I look forward to seeing A-Rod play a long and healthy career. If he does that, Barry Bonds will easily be forgotten.

Tri-fecta Anyone? [David Stefanini]

Something very rare can happen today. So rare, there has never been a day like this in baseball history.

Tom Glavine can become the 23rd player to get to 300 career wins. It is very possible this may be the last time we see this milestone achieved in the near future. The next closest person to 300 wins is Randy Johnson with 284 wins. But we do not know if he will ever pitch again. After that we have to go down the list to Mike Mussina who will not get to 300. The only pitcher I see that has a chance of getting to 300 is Johan Santana.

Now onto the long ball where Alex Rodriquez can become the 22nd player to reach 500 career home runs. Unlike Glavine this milestone will likely be reached again. It is possible that this milestone will be reached two more times before this season is over. Still A-Rod will be the youngest player to ever reach 500 home runs. A-Rod is 32 years and 4 days old today. That will be 332 days younger than Jimmie Foxx was when Foxx hit his 500th.

Finally the biggest and most impressive milestone of the three, Barry Bonds could tie the all-time home run record. Tonight, if he plays, Bonds will be swinging for career homer #755. No matter what your personal opinion of Bonds is does not matter today. The only thing that matters is the number 755. When he breaks the record there will be no mark in the record books, and his name will not be penciled in to be erased in later years. He will be the home run champion, at least until A-Rod breaks it in several years.

Frank Thomas Hits Homer Number 500 [David Stefanini]

Frank Thomas hit his 500th career home run the right way... or so he says. He became the 21st player in MLB history to reach this historic milestone.

He was already well on his way to being a Hall of Famer, but this cemented his place. Now there is no doubt he will get in on the first ballot. Thomas has been a feared hitter for more than a decade and it is nice to see him get to this milestone. There was a time this year I thought ARod would be the first one to get to 500, but Thomas beat him. It's great to see a guy who has carried himself in such a professional way get to such an elite club.

Thomas also may have become the first player to hit career home run #500 and get ejected in the same game. Thomas was thrown out after arguing a called 3rd strike in the 9th inning. Way to go Franky!

Here is the video of this historic home run: