Manny hits home run No. 501!!

Who'd have thought he could top that historic 500th dinger! But where was the big celebration?

Published June 2, 2008 5:50PM (EDT)

Boston Red Sox slugger Manny Ramirez hit the 500th home run of his great career Saturday night in Baltimore, and there was much rejoicing.

What an accomplishment! Ramirez is only the 24th player in major league history to reach 500 homers, though he's the third to hit his 500th while wearing a Red Sox uniform. (Quick: The other two were Ted Williams and ...?)

Articles were written about the Red Sox fan who caught the ball, as he'd, get this, promised his girlfriend's teenage son he would do. The fan, Damon Woo, had also promised to give the kid the ball but, can you believe it, he ended up giving it to Manny, with the kid's blessing.

There's going to be a movie about this guy Woo. Count on it.

And then on Sunday, still in Baltimore, Ramirez hit the 501st home run of his great career. What an accomplishment! Ramirez is only the 24th player in major league history to reach 501 homers, though he's the third to hit his 501st while wearing a Red Sox uniform. (Hint you don't need: The other one wasn't Babe Ruth.) Think of it: 501 home runs. Why, that's even more than 500, and look at all the celebration over that!

But everyone was all, "Yeah, nice home run."

I just don't understand baseball sometimes.


By King Kaufman

King Kaufman is a senior writer for Salon. You can e-mail him at king at salon dot com. Facebook / Twitter / Tumblr

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