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500 home run club

In Major League Baseball, the 500 home run club is an informal term applied to the group of players who have hit 500 or more career home runs. As of 2004 only 20 players have accomplished this. In general, the 500th home run is not a surprise, as the player has been approaching the mark for some time. However, teams will often interrupt the game in which the player hits his 500th home run in order to honor him on reaching an historically significant milestone in what has been an excellent baseball career. The 500 home run club was "founded" by Babe Ruth in 1929. At the time, he had more than twice as many home runs as any other player.

Rarely mentioned are the 600 home run club and the 700 home run club, which have 4 and 3 members respectively, as of September 2004.

See also: Top 500 Home Run Hitters of all time.

The club

As of 2004 there are 20 players in the 500 home run club:

Rank	Player	Home runs	Date of 500th	Teams
1	Hank Aaron	755	July 14, 1968	Mil/Atl, Mil (AL)
2	Babe Ruth	714	August 11, 1929	NY (AL), Bos (NL)
3	Barry Bonds†	701+	April 17, 2001	Pit, SF
4	Willie Mays	660	September 13, 1965	NY/SF, NY Mets
5	Frank Robinson	586	September 13, 1971	Cin, Bal, LA, Cal, Cle
6	Mark McGwire	583	August 5, 1999	Oak, StL
7	Harmon Killebrew	573	August 10, 1971	Was/Min, KC Royals
8	Sammy Sosa†	572+	April 4, 2003	Tex, Chi (AL), Chi (NL)
9	Reggie Jackson	563	September 17, 1984	KC/Oak, Bal, NY (AL), Cal
10	Rafael Palmeiro†	549+	May 11, 2003	Chi (NL), Bal, Tex
11	Mike Schmidt	548	April 18,1987	Phi
12	Mickey Mantle	536	May 14, 1967	NY (AL)
13	Jimmie Foxx	534	September 24, 1940	Phi (AL), Bos (AL)
14	Willie McCovey	521	June 30, 1978	SF, SD
	Ted Williams	521	June 17, 1960	Bos (AL)
16	Ernie Banks	512	May 12, 1970	Chi (NL)
	Eddie Mathews	512	July 14, 1967	Bos/Mil/Atl, Hou, Det
18	Mel Ott	511	August 1, 1945	NY (NL)
19	Eddie Murray	504	September 6, 1996	Bal, LA, NY (NL), Cle, Ana
20	Ken Griffey, Jr.†	501+	June 20, 2004	Sea, Cin

† still active