Let's take a minute to celebrate the anniversary of Willie Mays' 600th home run

500 home runs is one of baseball's magic numbers: It's the benchmark every hitter dreams of reaching, and only 27 players in the history of the game have done it. But if 500 dingers is the gold standard, 600 is a rare diamond. Prior to Sept. 22, 1969, the only member of the club was some guy named Babe Ruth -- until the Giants' Willie Mays stepped up against the Padres' Mike Corkins:

The Say Hey Kid would hit 60 more long balls in his career, and before long, the 600 club started to expand its membership -- eight players have now reached the milestone, and Albert Pujols is sitting at 555 and is not of this world, so he'll most likely be joining them soon. But there can only be one first, and for the National League, it was Willie. Not a bad standard bearer.