Baseball's 500 club still packs a punch
By: ERIC BREIER - Staff Writer | ∞
www.500hrc.com -- Many have dismissed baseball's 500 home run club as passe, given the numbers put up by many sluggers in the era of small ballparks, bad pitching and chemical enhancements.
But don't be so quick to dismiss 500 as a worthy milestone.
There are 27 players in the 3,000-hit club after Craig Biggio joined the club on Thursday. There are 22 members of the 300-win club, with the Mets' Tom Glavine soon to be No. 23. There are just 21 with 500 home runs, the most recent being Frank Thomas on Thursday.
Granted, the 500 club will get a bit larger with the addition of Alex Rodriguez this season, not to mention Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome and Gary Sheffield late this season or some time next year. But it's still a lofty mark. Heck, the Padres have never had anybody come close to half that amount (Nate Colbert is the franchise's all-time home run king with 163).
The folks at www.500hrc.com are doing their part to keep the magic of 500 alive, albeit with mixed results.
Cool stuff
< There are great little bios of each member of the club, plus links to other sites for more information on each player. But someone needs to update this stuff. Still no bio for Thomas, and it's not like it's a surprise that he joined the club this season.
< There's a well-deserved section on honorary members for players who didn't get the opportunity to play in the majors, including Japanese legend Sadaharu Oh, Negro League stars Josh Gibson and Martin Dihigo, and Mexican League standout Hector Espino Gonzalez.
Check at the door
< It's great that the site has a few video clips of interviews with the likes of Hank Aaron and Ernie Banks, but why not clips of these guys in action?
< There's a list on the home page of active players who are in the 500 club or closing in on it, along with their totals. But the operator somehow managed to leave Barry Bonds off the list. We'd rather see Hank Aaron keep the record, too, but that's more than a minor omission. The site also isn't real prompt about updating the numbers.
< Talk about brushing aside the steroid issue. The site conveniently includes an article from a SABR member claiming steroids shouldn't be a consideration when discussing the achievements of members of the 500 club. Come on, dude. Cheating is cheating.
The grade
It's a great idea for a Web site, but with new members joining the club and others climbing the chart daily, it falls woefully short of what it could be. Just two mouses for this site.
Staff writer Eric Breier, checking in at 6-foot-1, 135 pounds in 1990, hit one home run for Crawford High. He did it without the use of performance-enhancing substances ---- unless you count rolled tacos with guacamole. He can be reached at ebreier@nctimes.com.
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