Sheffield joins elite club with No. 500

Sheffield joins elite club with No. 500
Slugger becomes first to reach milestone in Mets uniform
Brittany Ghiroli / Special to MLB.com
04/17/2009 9:26 PM ET

NEW YORK -- Gary Sheffield's first career hit with the Mets came in dramatic fashion.

Down one run in the bottom of the seventh inning, Sheffield came in as a pinch-hitter and blasted the ninth pitch from Brewers reliever Mitch Stetter over the left-field fence to record his 500th career home run on Friday night.

The fated ball was the ninth pitch of Sheffield's pinch-hit at-bat and traveled an estimated 385 feet into the stands at Citi Field.

Although the home run was Sheffield's first hit with the Mets, the home crowd gave Sheffield a rousing ovation as he made his curtain call and customary tip of the helmet.

Sheffield is the 25th player in Major League history to reach the 500-homer mark and the first to do so in a Mets uniform.

Brittany Ghiroli is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Congratulations I guess.

That sucks


I was hoping he get stuck on 499 for the rest of the season now that he is a Met

Too bad he didn't do it last year. Would have been cool to see.

catbox_9 wrote:

Too bad he didn't do it last year. Would have been cool to see.

Especially at Comerica Park


Probably would have been the only chance I would have had to see someone hit 500 home runs