Gary Sheffield Becomes 25th to Join 500-Home Run Club

Posted by Brian Joseph on Friday, April 17, 2009 at 10:20 pm

40-year-old Gary Sheffield became the 25th Major Leaguer to hit 500 career home runs and first to hit #500 as a pinch hitter in tonight’s 5-4 Mets win. Sheffield tied the game at four with the seventh inning homer, his first as a Met. Here’s a few other facts about Sheffield’s 500th:

• The home run came against the team he started his career with, the Milwaukee Brewers.
• It came off of Mitch Stetter, Sheffield’s 334th victim.
• It was the 51st time Sheffield tied the game with a homer.
• The 263rd solo home run was also his 159th with no outs.
• Obviously, it was Sheffield’s first home run at Citi Field — the 41st park where a Sheffield blast cleared the wall.

And what about April 17th? Has Sheffield ever homered on that date before?

The answer –

April 17, 1991: #20 – As a Brewer, Sheffield hit a solo home run off of Dave Johnson of the Orioles in the fifth inning of a 7-3 win.

April 17, 1994: #78 – As a Marlin, Sheffield homered off of Mark Portugal of the Giants in the seventh inning of a 9-8 loss.

April 17, 1999: #206 & #207 – Sheffield homered twice as a Dodger against the Padres in a 7-3 win. The first was a two-run shot in the third off of Sterling Hitchcock and the second was a solo shot off of Brian Boehringer in the seventh.