One for the Mantle

41 years ago today, May 14, 1967, Mickey Mantle went deep for his 500th career home run. It was 2 days shy of the 16th anniversary of his first home run. Mickey took the Orioles Stu Miller deep in the 7th inning at Yankee Stadium.

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Congrats to Jim Thome

Always a class act, the White Sox slugger hit his 500th home run today in style. A walk-off 2-run shot to beat the Angels. He joins A-Rod and Frank Thomas in joining the 500 club this season.

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A-Rod HR Ball Still in Limbo

NEW YORK (AP) -- A lifelong Yankees fan who drained his bank account to buy season tickets caught some cowhide that could be worth thousands -- the ball that Alex Rodriguez hit for his 500th home run.

"He doesn't want to be robbed," said his brother, Brian. "He's going to lie low for a few days, and then he's going to surface with it."

Although the value of baseball memorabilia has stagnated recently because of the widespread federal inquiry into steroids use, items such as home run balls and jerseys can still fetch steep prices at auction.

Rodriguez told The Daily News he would like to get the ball back, but that he hasn't spoken to Kowalczyk.

"It's his ball. I think it's obvious that I would love to have the ball, but we'll see what happens," Rodriguez said in Monday editions of the News. "I'm just going to let it sit for a few days."

Jason Zillo, a spokesman for the Yankees, said the team is willing to make an exchange with Kowalczyk for the ball. "If his favorite player is Roger Clemens, I think Roger Clemens would give him some stuff," he said.

Kowalczyk grew up near Trenton and is a graduate labor relations student at Rutgers University. His MySpace page says he makes $30,000 a year.

"I am like a more intelligent version of Seinfeld, yet I can be all the characters in the show," he wrote on the site, according to the News. "I am an intellectual, or someone who does a great job pretending to be."

Brian Kowalczyk said that if his brother were doing better financially, he would donate the ball to the Hall of Fame. But he said his brother needed a break.

"He spent all his money to have these Yankees season tickets. I was arguing with him for that," he continued. "There's nothing I can say now."

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Yankees Phil Good

Alex Rodriguez's 500th home run made a Saturday's game a memorable one, but his teammates helped out too, with a 21-hit barrage in a 16-8 win over the Kansas City Royals. It wasn't such a good day for rookie phenom Phil Hughes, though it started out that way. But Hughes tired in the 5th and left with the game tied 6-6. But the Yankees bats would not be denied.

A 4-run lead may have been squandered, but it wouldn't matter on this day. Melky Cabrera's RBI ground out against John Bale (0-1) quickly gave the Yankees the lead back in the bottom of the 5th and then the Bombers began to break the game open in the 6th.

Bobby Abreu started it with his 11th home run off of Joel Peralta. 2 batters later, Jorge Posada walked and Robinson Cano followed with a double. Betemit, playing his very first game at 1st Base, ripped a 2-runs single off of David Riske for a 10-6 lead. Melky Cabrera doubled, this time out of the infield, in the gap in left-center to score Betemit with the inning's final run.

The Yankees poured it on in the 7th. RBI singles by Abreu and Matsui, a 2-run single by Cano, and an RBI double by Phillips in his first at-bat of the day. Mike Myers faced 2 batters, but it was enough to raise his record to 3-0.

Hughes was a handed a 4-0 lead after the 1st, on A-Rod's historic home run and Cano's RBI triple. He gave 2 runs back in the 3rd on David DeJesus' RBI single and a ribbie double by Mark Teahen. The Yankees got the runs back, but DeJesus touched up Hughes for a 2-run HR, his 6th to start the 5th. Joe Torre stayed with Hughes as long as possible, but when Billy Butler and Ross Gload delivered RBI doubles, Hughes' day was done.
....

The Yankees had 6 players, Cano(4), A-Rod, Jeter, Abreu, Matsui, and Betemit with at least 3 hits each, for the first time in 65 years.

A-Rod officially became the youngest player to hit his 500th home run at 32 years, 8 days. That's 330 days faster than Jimmie Foxx.

Betemit has started 2 games as a Yankee and has driven in 3 runs in each.

Joba Chamberlain was dominant in his 2 inning appearance for Scranton last night, striking out 5 of the 7 batters he faced.

The Yankees are 10 games over .500 for the first time this season and have moved within 1.5 of the wild card leading Tigers. Detroit has lost 5 straight.

To make room for Hughes on the 40 man roster, Colter Bean was designated for assignment.

photos courtesy of AP

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Photos of A-Rod's 500

photos courtesy of AP

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A-ROD HITS 500

It only took Alex Rodriguez one at-bat today to hit his 500th home run. With two men aboard, A-Rod hit a mile high drive to left off of Royals starter Kyle Davies. Everyone watched to see if the ball would stay fair and needless to say, it did.

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500/3000

It was a big milestone day in major league baseball yesterday, as two long time veterans helped their efforts to gain entry into the Hall of Fame.

First it was the Blue Jays' Frank Thomas slugging a 1st inning, 3-run shot for career home run #500. In an odd twist, Thomas was thrown out of the game in the 9th by home plate umpire Mark Wegner after arguing balls and strikes.

Later in the evening, Craig Biggio had a remarkable 5 hits again the Colorado Rockies, the 3rd of which was career hit # 3000. Biggio was thrown out trying to advance to 2nd on the play, but was still able to enjoy the applause and love shown him by the home fans. The next highest hit total among active players is Barroid Bond with 2,896.

Frank Thomas' milestone HRs

1 – Aug. 28, 1990 @ MIN vs. Gary Wayne
100 – Aug. 31, 1993 @ NYY vs. Sterling Hitchcock
200 – June 9, 1996 @ BAL vs. Jimmy Haynes
300 – Aug. 7, 1999 @ OAK vs. Kevin Appier
400 – July 25, 2003 @ TB vs. Jorge Sosa
500 – June 28, 2007 @ MIN vs. Carlos Silva

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