Against the Blue Jays on Wednesday, Alex Rodriguez reached a career home run milestone that rattled not the country; nay, the world. What his dinger did, though, was put him 100 homers away from his next numerical landmark, so while we wait another three or four years for A-Rod to inch ever north, are there going to be any other career home run milestones in the meantime?
Well, there sure are. Allow me to list them for you!
Jim Thome: 577 home runs
Manny Ramirez: 554
Albert Pujols: 392
Jim Edmonds: 390
Guys like Miguel Tejada, Garret Anderson, and Magglio Ordonez are hanging out just below 300, but 300 is nothing. 400 is where it starts to sound impressive, 500 is where it starts to sound historic, and 600 is where it starts to become the stuff of legends. Or asterisks. Pujols and Edmonds are the closest to reaching another of baseball's hallowed round numbers, but Thome's approaching the bigger mark, and given his .914 OPS with the Twins so far this season, it would seem that he'll be able to hang around produce for long enough to climb his way there.
If the response to A-Rod's achievement has been mixed, Thome, I should think, will approach 600 with near unanimous support.