Thanks to their tremendous popularity and influence among their fans, major leaguers have a proud tradition of giving back to their community, and encouraging others to do so. Many of the members of The 500 Home Run Club® started their own non-profit foundations to provide support for charitable causes.

The most recent inductee into the 600 Home Run Club, Ken Griffey, Jr. was affectionately dubbed “Junior” by the baseball world, when he became the youngest player to hit 450 career home runs.

Baseball history is filled with the storied achievements of 500 HRC members, such as Aaron, Mays and Sosa, who were able to hit long-balls seemingly at will.  And when the greatest hitters in baseball got in the groove, they really put on a show!

The 500 Home Run Club® members and fans salute all of the Latino players who have hit 500 or more home runs, including: Slammin’ Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Martin Dihigo (Negro Leagues), Hector Espino Gonzalez (Mexican Leagues).   The next generation of Latino power hitters, such as New York Yankee 3B Alex Rodriquez (448) and Dominican Republic-native/Boston Red Sox player Manny Ramirez (464) continue to put up prodigious home run tallies year after year and are nearing the 500 home run plateau:

Cuban born Martín Magdaleno (Llanos) Dihigo (honorary 500 Home Run Club® Member) was perhaps the most versatile player in baseball history. Known as "El Maestro," he played all nine positions skillfully. Dihigo became a national institution in his native Cuba, but also starred in many other countries, including Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, also spending 12 seasons in the Negro leagues.

Long known as the first stop for prospective major leaguers and the last stop for over-the-hill ball players, the Mexican League is now officially classified as Triple-A, and widely regarded as Mexico’s domestic major league.

After a one year hiatus from baseball in 2006, Sammy Sosa returned to his first team - The Texas Rangers - for what turned out to be a farewell tour...as well as his chance to gain entry into the ultra-exclusive 600 Home Run Club.  The results were everything he - and his millions of fans worldwide - had hoped for:  21 home runs during the 2007 season, enabling him to victoriously crash through the 600 homer plateau and finish what will undoubtedly be a Hall-Of-Fame career with 609 long balls.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is saluting the unique impact of Latino baseball on America’s national pastime with a multi-faceted campaign entitled “BASEBALL! ¡BÉISBOL!” Sponsored by CITGO Petroleum Corporation, the five-year celebration is being highlighted by a pair of traveling exhibits that are touring the U.S. saluting Latino Hall of Famers Luis Aparicio, Roberto Clemente, Orlando Cepeda, Juan Marichal, and Tony Pérez.

Hall of Fame Honors Mexican Greats

Arguably the two greatest home run hitters of all-time, Hank Aaron and Sadaharu Oh, met at Tokyo’s Korakuen Stadium in November 1974 to showcase their legendary power and to determine – once and for all – who was greatest home run hitter on the planet.

Bonds began coming to the Giants clubhouse as early as age 5 when father Bobby -- who died Aug. 23 -- was teammates with Mays. The youngster immediately tabbed Mays as his favorite player and recalled playing catch with the future Hall of Famer.

"I was just in awe over Willie," said Bonds about his godfather on CNBC's "The Edge With Carlos Watson." "Ever since I was a little kid, he's been my idol. ... We've been spending a lot more time together since my dad has passed away. And he's now my eyes behind my head in the game of baseball."

"He understands history now, much more than I think four or five years ago," said Mays. "He's gonna be the No. 1 player on the Giants right now, home run-wise.

 "So, to me, I'm proud of that. I quit. I'm out of the game, so why not have him go ahead on and try to get to the [Babe] Ruth [mark of 714], try to get to [Hank] Aaron [at 755] if he can? Take what you can take and that's the way I look at it."

 Mays also talked about how important it was for the young Bonds to go to college instead of joining the Giants after they drafted him in 1982.

 "Because he went to school, he already knew when he came to Pittsburgh [after being drafted again in 1985] that that's what he really wanted to do," said Mays. "And how he wanted to do it."

Barry Lamar Bonds was born on July 24, 1964, in Riverside, California. The son of three-time All-Star Bobby Bonds, godson of one of the game’s greatest players Willie Mays, and distant cousin of Reggie Jackson, another 500 Home Run Club® member, Bonds was destined for greatness. He spent his childhood years roaming the clubhouse at Candlestick Park, getting tips from Mays and other Giants.

Home Run Derby was the name of a 1959 television show held at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles* pitting sluggers against each other in 9-inning home run contests. The rules were not unlike modern Home Run Derbies; however, the television show also added as an out any called strike.

In 2001, Bonds's slugging percentage of (.863) set a single-season record. He also slugged .812 in 2004, only the second time in history that a player has bettered .800 twice (Babe Ruth was the other, with .847 in 1920 and .846 in 1921, respectively).

Barry Talks About His Father Bobby Bonds

Bonds' father, who passed away from complications of cancer on Aug. 23, 2003, had a 14-year career, the first seven with the Giants. Later in life, the dad became a batting coach and inspiration to his son, who signed with the Giants as a free agent on Dec. 8, 1992, after playing seven seasons in Pittsburgh.

A symbol of Mexican pride, the slugging Espino (honorary 500 Home Run Club®Member) is the all-time Minor League home run hitter with 484 long balls. After being named the Mexican League Rookie of the Year in 1962, he led the league in home runs in 1964 and 1972; batting average in 1964 and in 1966-68; and in RBI in 1962 and 1973. His Mexican League homerun record of 46 long balls, set in 1964, stood until 1986.

Aging But Still Splendid Babe Stars at 1st All-Star Game

The first All-Star Game was held as part of the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago and was the brainchild of Arch Ward, then sports editor for The Chicago Tribune. Thirty-eight-year-old Babe Ruth, a crowd pleaser to the end, belted the first All-Star home run in the third inning of the inaugural All-Star Game in 1933 (Chicago, Comiskey Park).  Ruth also made a dazzling late-inning catch to secure the 4-2 win for the American League.    The spectacle and excitement generated by this first All-Star Game ensured that it would be an annual event.

On July 12, 1955 Aaron played in his first All-Star Game and went 2-for-2 with a run scored and an RBI in a 6-3 win for the National League. It marked the first of a record-tying 24 All-Star Games for Aaron. Only Willie Mays and Stan Musial appeared in as many All-Star Games.

April 8, 1974 - Aaron was 15 months old when Babe Ruth hit the last of his record 714 homers. Thirty-eight years later, in the summer of '73, Aaron's chase to beat the Babe heated up.  The year ended with Aaron at 713 homers. Hammerin' Hank was determined not to let the threats distract him from his quest. On his first swing of the 1974 season, he tied Babe's record in Cincinnati.

Career Statistics for "Hamerin'" Hank Aaron