Alex Rodriguez remained virtually frozen at the plate. Had he kept the towering fly ball fair? Had he finally done it?
With two on and one out in the first inning, Alex Rodriguez ripped the first pitch from Kansas City righty Kyle Davies deep down the left-field line. It was a low-and-inside offering that Rodriguez golfed, and he was uncertain it would stay on the historic side of the foul pole.
Maybe there was a little subconscious disbelief, too, that his quest for 500 finally was ending following 29 homerless at-bats.
“I hadn’t hit one in so long, I didn’t know if it was gonna be foul or fair,” Rodriguez said. “I definitely thought – because I’ve been hooking the ball a little bit where that ball started, last week that ball would’ve hooked foul about 20 feet.”
After the ball landed a few rows into the left-field stands, Rodriguez began rounding the bases in earnest, pumping both fists, clapping and smiling with childlike glee. He blew kisses into the stands to his wife and was mobbed after touching home and making his 500th career homer official.
Rodriguez’s 36th homer of the season, a historic three-run bomb, kickstarted a 16-8 rout of Kansas City, the Bombers’ 11th victory in 15 games.
So was it all he expected it to be?
“It was better,” he said.
Rodriguez is the youngest player to 500, arriving in 32 years and eight days. The 22nd player to get there, he’s only the third player to accomplish the feat as a Yankee, joining Hall of Famers Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle.
“His prime years are ahead of him, basically,” manager Joe Torre said. “And the way he takes care of himself and the serious nature with which he plays the game … this is a stop-off for him.
“This is not a destination. This is a stop-off for him. I’m proud to be standing there in that dugout with him.”
Since hitting his 499th homer in Kansas City on July 25th, he was in a 3-for-29 skid (counting an at-bat in the continuation of a suspended game versus Baltimore). He produced 22 consecutive hitless at-bats after No. 499.
Now, other questions emerge. Can Rodriguez someday surpass Barry Bonds? And does he have another 300 homers in his bat? 400?
500?
“When I was 24, I never thought about 500,” Rodriguez said. “I’m not going to start thinking about what my destination is.
“I’ve got a tremendous passion to play winning baseball and play baseball the right way.”
Note this, however: Rodriguez’s agent, Scott Boras, said his client is already 15 percent ahead of the projections he compiled before the historic 10-year, $252 million contract.
Rodriguez was mobbed near the plate by his teammates. He answered a curtain call from a raucous 54,056 as the Rutgers student who caught the ball was quickly escorted out of the stands. Greeted with a standing ovation and chants of “A-Rod! A-Rod!” when he took the field for the second, Rodriguez doffed his cap.
“The energy of the fans kind of put it into perspective a little bit,” Rodriguez said. “If anything, they cared more about it than I did.”
Rodriguez went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and three RBIs, leaving in the eighth when Torre put some subs in. He spoke with George Steinbrenner and his sons on the phone afterward. Commissioner Bud Selig also phoned. Rodriguez described the call with The Boss as “brief.”
“It was nice,” Rodriguez said. “He was happy about the win, happy about the 500th and proud I did it as a Yankee.”
Wait is over
Here’s a look at some of the droughts of at-bats between a player’s 499th and 500th home runs:
Player AB
Jimmie Foxx61
Harmon Killebrew43
Alex Rodriguez29
Mickey Mantle28
Eddie Murray21
Ken Griffey Jr.21
Hank Aaron14
Sammy Sosa11
Frank Thomas11
Rafael Palmeiro10
Ernie Banks8
Willie McCovey7
Frank Robinson6
Reggie Jackson6
Mike Schmidt6
The 500 club
Player HRs
Hank Aaron755
Barry Bonds755
Babe Ruth714
Willie Mays660
Sammy Sosa604
Ken Griffey Jr.589
Frank Robinson586
Mark McGwire583
Harmon Killebrew573
Rafael Palmeiro569
Reggie Jackson563
Mike Schmidt548
Mickey Mantle536
Jimmie Foxx534
Willie McCovey521
Ted Williams521
Ernie Banks512
Eddie Mathews512
Mel Ott511
Frank Thomas505
Eddie Murray504
Alex Rodriguez500
Against pitchers
8 Bartolo Colon, David Wells, Ramon Ortiz
6 Tim Wakefield, Jeff Suppan, Sidney Ponson, Jamie Moyer
5 Kenny Rogers, Freddy Garcia, Steve Sparks, Jarrod Washburn, Brad Radke
Youngest to 500
Player Age Year hit
Alex Rodriguez32 years, 8 days2007
Jimmie Foxx32 years, 337 days1940
Willie Mays34 years, 130 days1965
Sammy Sosa34 years, 143 days2003
Hank Aaron34 years, 159 days1968
Babe Ruth34 years, 186 days1929
Ken Griffey Jr.34 years, 212 days2004
Harmon Killebrew35 years, 51 days1971
Mickey Mantle35 years, 206 days1967
Eddie Mathews35 years, 274 days1967
Mark McGwire35 years, 308 days1999
