Hessman's 432nd Minors homer ties record
Part of Tigers organization, slugger pulls even with Arlett on all-time list
Minor League Baseball's all-time home run king has company. Mike Hessman, part of the Tigers organization, tied Buzz Arlett's U.S.-based Minor League mark with his 432nd career homer on Wednesday night.
Hessman, who has had a 19-year career, entered the record books in the third inning of Triple-A Toledo's 9-3 win over Rochester.
"It was great," Hessman told MiLB.com about the celebration. "I've been trying not to think about the record too much, but to get that support from my teammates and all the fans here in Toledo, it was pretty awesome."
Hessman is excited to be in the record books, but he admitted that the feat hadn't quite sunk in.
"It's definitely special to get a record like this," Hessman said, "but I haven't really taken the time to sit down and see the history of the league and the Minors or looked too much at anything about the guys ahead of me. Once it's all said and done, I'll dig a little deeper and see what really happened here."
Hessman has played in 109 games in the Majors and has 14 homers for the Braves, Tigers and Mets.
He last played in the Majors in 2010.