Alex Rodriguez hit his 500th career home run on Saturday, August 4, 2007, a three-run shot off Kansas City's Kyle Davies in the first inning at Yankee Stadium. He was 32 years and 8 days old, the youngest player ever to get there. The New York Yankees won 16-8 in front of 54,056.
He'd spent 10 days stuck on 499. Then he swung at the first pitch he saw, and the wait was over before most people had found their seats.
Ten Days on 499
Number 499 came on July 25 in Kansas City. After that, the Stadium turned into a waiting room. Every A-Rod at-bat felt like an event, and the whole thing dragged on long enough that you started to wonder whether the guy who'd launch 54 homers that year had forgotten how to hit one.
(He hadn't. He was just doing it in the most A-Rod way possible -- making a sure thing feel like a crisis.)
The Royals' starter that afternoon was Kyle Davies, making his Kansas City debut. The Royals had picked him up from Atlanta four days earlier in the Octavio Dotel trade. Welcome to the American League, kid.
One Pitch
Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu were on base when A-Rod stepped in for the first time. Davies' first pitch went into the left-field seats, just inside the foul pole. Three runs, 500 homers, and his 36th of the season.
He hugged Jeter and Abreu at the plate, blew a kiss to the stands, and came back out of the dugout for a curtain call. Even he admitted the trot wasn't his smoothest work.
I acted like a goofball running around the bases, but you only hit 500 once.
That's about as relaxed as A-Rod ever sounded in pinstripes. He'd also wanted it to happen in the Bronx and not on the road -- "For me I wanted to do it at home," he said -- and he got his wish.
Davies lasted three innings. The Yankees scored 16 runs, and nobody remembers any of the other 13.
Younger Than Foxx
The record he broke had stood for nearly 67 years. Jimmie Foxx hit his 500th for the Red Sox on September 24, 1940, at 32 years and 338 days. A-Rod beat him by 330 days.
A-Rod was the 22nd member of the club and the second of 2007, after Frank Thomas in June. He was also the third player to hit number 500 as a Yankee, after Babe Ruth (at League Park in Cleveland, 1929) and Mickey Mantle, who did it at the Stadium on May 14, 1967. That made A-Rod only the second guy to hit his 500th in the old ballpark itself.
Joe Torre didn't treat it like a finish line.
His prime years are ahead of him, basically. This is a stop-off for him. It's not a destination.
At the time, that didn't sound like hype. Plenty of people figured the all-time record was a matter of when, not if. (Hindsight, as usual, has some notes.)
Meanwhile, in San Diego
The same night, Barry Bonds hit number 755 off Clay Hensley to tie Hank Aaron. So baseball got the youngest 500 and the tying 755 on one Saturday, and the conversation around both of them got complicated in very different ways. A-Rod's 2009 admission that he'd used PEDs in Texas came 18 months later, and it changed how plenty of people looked back at days like this one.
That's fair. It doesn't change what happened on the field that afternoon, though: first pitch, left-field seats, done.
| Date | Saturday, August 4, 2007 |
| Site | Yankee Stadium (attendance 54,056) |
| Pitcher | Kyle Davies, Kansas City Royals (his Royals debut) |
| The Swing | First pitch, bottom of the 1st, three-run homer to left |
| Age | 32 years, 8 days (youngest ever to 500) |
| Previous Record | Jimmie Foxx, 32 years, 338 days (1940) |
| Club Rank | 22nd player to 500 |
| Final | Yankees 16, Royals 8 |
What Came After
The 2007 season ended with A-Rod at .314 with 54 homers and 156 RBI, plus his third MVP (26 of the 28 first-place votes). Then came the opt-out during the World Series, and then the $275 million return a few weeks later.
The fan who caught the ball, Walter "Sonny" Kowalczyk, held onto it for a while. SCP Auctions sold it for him in February 2010 for $103,579.
Foxx Sets the Mark
Jimmie Foxx hits his 500th home run for Boston at 32 years, 338 days -- the youngest ever for the next 67 years.
Thomas Gets 500
Frank Thomas becomes the 21st member of the 500 club.
Number 499
A-Rod homers in Kansas City and then waits 10 days for the next one.
Number 500
First pitch from Kyle Davies, three-run homer to left, 16-8 win. A-Rod is 32 years and 8 days old.
The Ball Sells
SCP Auctions sells the 500th home run ball for $103,579.
Number 600
Three years to the day later, A-Rod hits his 600th off Toronto's Shaun Marcum and becomes the youngest to that mark too.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Alex Rodriguez hit his 500th home run?
Rodriguez hit his 500th career home run on Saturday, August 4, 2007, at Yankee Stadium. It was a three-run homer in the first inning off Kansas City's Kyle Davies, and the Yankees won 16-8.
How old was A-Rod when he hit 500 home runs?
He was 32 years and 8 days old, the youngest player in MLB history to reach 500. He passed Jimmie Foxx, who was 32 years and 338 days old when he hit his 500th in 1940.
Who gave up Alex Rodriguez's 500th home run?
Kyle Davies of the Kansas City Royals, who was making his first start for the Royals after a July 31 trade from Atlanta. A-Rod hit the first pitch he saw from Davies.
What happened to A-Rod's 500th home run ball?
Walter "Sonny" Kowalczyk, a Yankees fan, caught it. SCP Auctions sold the ball on his behalf in February 2010 for $103,579.
Ten days of waiting, one pitch to end it. Torre called it a stop-off, and he was right about that much.