Well, it finally happened. In the eighth inning of tonight’s Yankees-Red Sox game at Fenway Park, aging slugger Alex Rodriguez stepped to the plate as a pinch-hitter in a tie game. On a 3-0 pitch, Rodriguez sent the fastball from Junichi Tazawa racing over the Green Monster and into the hands of one lucky Red Sox fan.
It was the 660th career home run of A-Rod’s career, tying him with all-time great Willie Mays for fourth on the all-time home run list. The only other man to have hit that many home runs in the last 40 years was Barry Bonds, who reached the milestone on April 12, 2004. For Bonds, who was not only making history with that swing of the bat but also reaching a personal milestone by tying his godfather, the trot was a bit emotional. He took 31.32 seconds to touch home.
Rodriguez, meanwhile, raced home by comparison. Not only had he finally reached the historic milestone, but he had done it with a pinch-hit, go-ahead home run. A “quick” trot was almost welcome. Officially, A-Rod’s 660th career tater trot clocked in at only 24.53 seconds. Other milestone home runs for Rodriguez were much slower, with #500 clocking in at 28.87 seconds and #600 coming in at 25,57.
In fact, this trot from Rodriguez was the quickest milestone trot (e.g., joining the 500-home run club, tying or passing an all-time great, etc.) since Hank Aaron took 24.39 seconds on his famous home run #715 trot. Click here for a full list of milestone home run trot times.
The press this week is bound to be a bit idiotic with the Yankees trying to keep from paying what they agreed to pay Rodriguez for home runs like this. It’s a joke. Try to ignore it and instead focus on that laser of a ball clearing the Green Monster. Now that’s impressive!
