Welcome to the Club, A-Rod

by theoriginaljd, Six Pack Sports Report

Unless you've been living under a rock recently you know that last night against the hapless pitching staff of the Kansas City Royals Alex Rodriguez belted his 500th home run into the stratosphere to finally join one of the baseball's most famous clubs. What's that? Oh, the Yankees who everyone was stiff over because of an offensive explosion in the last week scored zero runs last night and thus we will be subjected to at least one more day of "A-Rod Is So Great" stories? Fantastic.

I should preface this by saying that I really don't have a problem with A-Rod. As a die hard Red Sox fan since the womb I have enjoyed many a dropped fly ball courtesy of the games best player, and his ability to turn into jelly under the bright lights helped my beloved Red Sox complete the greatest comeback in sports history. So it's tough for me to hate on the poor guy. My real problem is with ESPN (surprise, surprise) who continue flashing that stupid A-Rod 499 banner whenever he comes up to the plate. Isn't it about time that we all realized that 500 home runs doesn't mean anything anymore?

There are currently 21 players in what used to be the exclusive 500 home run club. Since 1996 when Eddie Murray hit his 500th home run the club has been joined by 6 other players. It doesn't take a math wizard (just a calculator) to realize that 28% of the membership in the 500 HR Club has come in the last 11 years. Considering that the first member (George Herman Ruth) joined the club on August 11, 1929 that seems like a pretty large proportion.

There is also the list of guys who will break into the 500 Club in the very near future. The most obvious one is A-Rod because he is shoved down our throats like we were paying for it in 15 minute intervals. The purple lipped one stands in at 499. He along though with Jime Thome (489), Manny Ramirez (485) and Gary Sheffield (478) all in line to get past the 500 mark by the end of next season (most likely). Fixing my calculations that would make 25 players past the mark, 10 of them after the 1995 season (and the beginning of the steroid age) for an astonishing 40%.

Are we beginning to understand why that 500 mark isn't as big a deal as it was even 10 years ago? Just look at some of the names who have reached the plateau in recent times: Frank Thomas (503), Eddie Murray (504), and Raphael Palmiero (569). I don't want to take away from any of these guys careers - and I don't mean to slight A-Rod and the other guys who are coming towards the elusive mark but isn't it safe to say that simply hitting 500 HRs shouldn't be a big enough achievement to int erupt SportsCenter?

The obvious alternative is to change the mark that everyone lusts after to 600. Right now there are only six players in the 600 Club: Hank Aaron (755), Barry Bonds (753), Babe Ruth (714), Willie Mays (660), and Sammy Sosa (603). Of the players are who are still active only two of them even have a realistic shot of reaching 600 - Ken Griffey Jr. (587), and A-Rod (499) although Junior might even be a reach considering his history and age.

Now that's a club with exclusive membership.

I understand that the Worldwide Leader gets a lot of flak from blogfrica and most of it is well warranted but stop showing me that stupid A-Rod "499" graphic during every at-bat. Nobody cares about the 500 HR Club anymore. When Griffey and A-Rod start to approach the new 600 Club you can cut into all the live games you want because getting into that club means something. The 500 Club is like the Mason's used to be - something people yearned to get into, but recently they're just accepting everyone and the luster has worn off. We need a new goal to shoot for ESPN and the 600 Club is it.

We could talk about the 700 Club but frankly I don't want to get into a turf war with the Christian Broadcasting Network.