The 500 Club Is A Little Too Crowded

A lot of people are asking what the steroids outbreak means in the long run for baseball. To me, the example that will truly define how rampant the effectiveness of roids are is Sammy Sosa hitting his epic 600th home run, and less than a week later Frank Thomas hitting his 500th.

This isn't an aberration either: Manny, Thome and A-Rod are going to get 500 this season, with Sheffield, Delgado, and Piazza following. Then there are the players in the 300's that could reach it, which include Andruw Jones, Chipper Jones, Pujols, Sexson, Green, Guerrero, Helton, Konerko and Kent just to name a few. Then include the players of tomorrow like Dunn, Fielder and Hafner that could get there.

What it ultimately means is that 500 home runs will no longer grant instant access to the Hall of Fame, nor should it. The sheer overpopulation of this once exclusive club may hold back the Jim Thomes and Gary Sheffields by itself. But the steroid implications that surround players like Frank Thomas and Sammy Sosa will ostracize its fair share.

Hitting 500 home runs used to be what getting 300 wins is for pitchers, where once someone reached it, you knew it'd be about a decade before anyone got close again. In 1999 before McGwire hit #500, there were 15 people in the 500 club. By 2009 there'll be at least 25, and certainly 35 by 2019. What's worse is getting to this historic feat used to mean being a complete player. It meant players like Dave Kingman who just hit home runs couldn't get in. Even Mike Schmidt's .267 average was redeemed with his 10 gold gloves. Nowadays someone like Adam Dunn, who strikes out one every three at bats and has a career .246 average, has nothing keeping him from getting in.