Eddie Murray Hits His 500th Home Run September 6, 1996

On this day in Baseball History September 6, 1996: Eddie Murray of the Baltimore Orioles hits home run number 500 against Detroit Tigers starter Felipe Lira over the right-field wall at Orioles Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore. In doing so, Murray became the 15th player to reach the 500 home run plateau and joined Hank Aaron and Willie Mays as the only players to get 3,000 hits (Murray got his 3,000th hit on June 30, 1995) and 500 home runs. Rafael Palmeiro would later join them on this list. Murray is the only switch hitter in the 3000/500 club. Here is the boxscore for the September 6, 1996 game between the Detroit Tigers and Baltimore Orioles.

Here is the 500 home run club at the time Murray hit his 500th:

1. Babe Ruth August 11, 1929
2. Jimmie Foxx September 24, 1940
3. Mel Ott August 1, 1945
4. Ted Williams June 17, 1960
5. Willie Mays September 13, 1965
6. Mickey Mantle May 14, 1967
7. Eddie Mathews July 14, 1967
8. Hank Aaron July 14, 1968
9. Ernie Banks May 12, 1970
10. Harmon Killebrew August 10, 1971
11. Frank Robinson September 13, 1971
12. Willie McCovey June 30, 1978
13. Reggie Jackson September 17, 1984
14. Mike Schmidt April 18, 1987
15. Eddie Murray September 6, 1996

Murray would retire in 1997 with 3,255 hits and 504 home runs. His 504 homers was second best for a switch-hitter, Mickey Mantle is at the top of the switch-hitter home run list with 536 homers. Murray would be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in in 2003 with 85.3% of the vote (423/496 ballots).

Murray's milestone came a year to the day of Cal Ripken's 2,131st consecutive game played, passing Lou Gehrig as MLB's Iron Man. 

Until Then Keep Playing Ball,

Baseball Sisco

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For Further Reading
- Click here to access Eddie Murray's career statistics from Baseball Reference.com
- Click here to access the article Murray Collects 500th Hr, But Orioles Fall In 12 Innings by Stephen Nidetz from the Chicago Tribune website dated September 07, 1996
- Click Here to access the article Homeric Odyssey: Eddie Murray’s biggest ball has gone from milestone to afterthought by Dave McKenna from the Washington City Paper website dated January 26, 2007