1. Sat Apr 18, 2009 11:17 am EDT
Gary Sheffield hits first homer as a Met, 500th as a professional
By 'Duk
So Gary Sheffield hit his 500th homer on Friday night and the circumstances in which it came
could not have summed his nomadic career any better. Pinch-hitting in the seventh inning, Sheff
swung at a pitch from Milwaukee's Mitch Stetter and sent it over the left field fence to a spot 385
feet away. It was the first homer in Sheffield's still short stint with the Mets (the eighth franchise of
his career) and — in a nice sidebar — the home run ball was returned to him for only a few
signed jerseys and bats by Mets fan Chris Matcovich.
Despite a relationship that only began earlier this month, Sheffield's teammates mobbed him at
home plate and the Citi Field crowd gave him a prolonged ovation before he came out of the
dugout for a curtain call.
Still, it all seems a little strange considering that Sheffield became the first player to ever hit his
500th homer with the same stroke that also produced his first homer with a new team. It led me
to wonder how many of the other 24 500-club members hit their milestones under newish
circumstances and, after a bit of research, it turns out that only Eddie Mathews and Frank
Thomas can only lay a similar claim to celebrating with strangers. Mathews hit 493 homers for the
Braves before being traded to the Astros and picking up seven more to reach the mark.
Meanwhile, the Big Hurt hit his 500th in 2007 when he was new to Toronto. At the time, it was
only the 13th he had hit for the Blue Jays. All three are the only members to hit 500 in their first
season with a new team.

2. Since it's a lazy Saturday morning and because I possess a basic understanding of Excel
spreadsheets, I put together the following chart listing the 500 club members by the percentage of
home runs they had hit for their 500 team/franchise at the time of their milestone.
As you'll see, only eight members collected all of their first 500 with the same franchise. (For a fun
challenge, see if you can name them before looking):