500 Home Run Club® FACEBOOK and Individual Member Pages

Thanks to everyone who has joined as a fan of our 500 HRC FACEBOOK page and to those who haven’t yet joined us, please do so.
 

Home Run Derby was the name of a 1960 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. The series aired in syndication from January 9 to July 2, 1960 and helped inspire the Home Run Derby event that is now held the day before the annual Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

They say you can learn a lot about a man by the kind of car he drives, so here’s a look back at the hot wheels and smooth rides that have revved the hearts of 500 Home Run Club® members over the years.

Historians have observed that professional baseball is a microcosm of U.S. culture; in some cases magnifying society’s changes and in others acting as a driving force for dramatic shifts in the way people think, act and remember history. So it is only fitting that some of the most influential Black Americans played in the Negro Baseball Leagues and/or made their mark in Major League Baseball.

Breaking the Baseball Color Line

Andre “Awesome” Dawson elected to Baseball Hall of Fame

After heading west to The Dodgers for the final part of the 2009 season, Jim Thome would like to return the Chicago White Sox, the team where he found a comfortable and productive home for 3½ seasons. "Everyone knows how I feel. I love Chicago,” Thome said recently.  “Ultimately, if things work out, I would love to come back. It's a great city. It's home. It has been a great place. Jerry, Ozzie, the whole organization, they have all treated me great."
 

Some baseball pundits have credited the design of ballparks such as: old Yankee Stadium in New York, Chicago’s Wrigley Field, Boston’s Fenway Park and Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park for the prosperity at the plate that power hitters including Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Ernie Banks enjoyed over the years, and for the dominance of today’s home run heroes like Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Howard (insert link to Chasing 500).  

Interactive Stat Chart Lets You Compare 500 HRC Members Throughout Their Career

Although it’s a bit outdated (having been created in 2007 and not updated since, the New York Times published a very interesting interactive online tool called “Paths to the Top of the Home Run Charts” that allows fans to view a year-by-year comparison of how several members of the 500 Home Run Club® stacked up against each other at various ages.

Each year certain MLB players rise to the top of the league in power hitting, batting average and RBIs; but few have the ability to dominate “The Bigs” year after year.  What makes the members of the 500 Home Run Club® so remarkable is they each maintained their batting skills at the highest level for 15 to 20 years, or even longer.  This despite the fact they faced some of the greatest pitchers the game has ever seen; each of whom was intent on shutting them down with their nastiest pitches, trickiest strategies and greatest concentration.  After all, nobody wants to be remembered as the guy who gave up someone’s 500th Home Run…but everyone wants to be one of the guys who hit 500 career long balls!

When the curators at the Library of Congress Folklife Center began planning their Baseball Americana symposium (a two-day event in celebration of baseball October 2-3, 2009), they sought a living ambassador of the sport suitable of representing the colorful history and exuberant spirit of “America’s Game”…and they naturally thought of “Mr. Cub®” Ernie Banks. Ernie’s response was an immediate “Yes! I said, ‘Anything I can do for the game of baseball and our great fans around the world, count me in.’”

Despite the enviable regular-season success that Alex Rodriguez has enjoyed throughout his 16-year career, including 12 All-Star appearances, 583 career homers, and three AL MVP awards, he had always struggled in the postseason.  In fact, some would say A-Rod had a King Kong size monkey on his back that only Fay Ray could love, and everyone in New York came to dread each year.

Five of the Top 10 greatest post-season sluggers in MLB history are members of The 500 Home Run Club®.

In this world of sports specialization, it’s hard to conceive of a single Major League Baseball player outperforming each and every one of his league peers in all three major batting categories: 1) Home Runs, 2) Runs Batted In and 3) Batting Average.  Consistently hitting with power and being able to get a big hit when the pressure is on and you’re your team needs it most; are the skills from which legends are made.

Love it or hate it, you’ve gotta admit the Designated Hitter Rule has created a tremendous amount of thunder and lightning in American League and inter-league games played in AL stadiums.  Since MLB’s American League voted to allow its teams to use a “designated pinch hitter” in place of the pitcher starting in 1973, the practice has 1) boosted the excitement of games and 2) added years to the careers of veteran players who could still strike fear into the hearts of opposing pitchers, but found it difficult to play a defensive position.

Born on October 20, 1931, Mickey Mantle took command of October baseball like no other player, before or since. He played in twelve World Series and won three MVP awards. His most impressive season (statistically) was in 1956, when he won the triple crown (leading the league in home runs, batting average and runs batted in) and was voted the league's Most Valuable Player by the most one-sided landslide of votes in major league history.

New York Yankees (#44) and Oakland A’s (#9)  
     
While most MLB players (even 500HRC members) are honored to have their number retired by their home team, Reggie Jackson enjoyed two ceremonies that were 11 years…and more than 3,000 miles apart.

Considered by many to be one of the most productive sluggers (and finest gentlemen) in MLB history, James Howard “Big Jim” Thome has spent the last 18 MLB seasons doing one thing better than perhaps any other player during the same span: quietly making opposing pitchers very nervous.

While the 25 members of The 500 Home Run Club® are among the best known and beloved baseball players around the globe, most would agree with Dorothy’s famous proclamation in The Wizard of Oz: “There’s No Place Like Home."

While many would say Alex Rodriguez sets the standard for home run hitting infielder and Albert Pujols (who is 7-for-9 this year when the bases are loaded with 5 grand slams—tying Ernie Banks for the most grand slams in a season in the National League) is the most dominant hitter in baseball.  Both of these outstanding talents are merely following in the footsteps of the Hall-of-Fame shortstop who was thrilling crowds with both his power and his natural hitting ability two decades earlier – “Mr. Cub” Ernie Banks.