A boo could hardly be heard in Yankee Stadium as Alex Rodriguez rounded the bases in the second inning on Sunday. Had new evidence been discovered in the Biogenesis case to exonerate him? Nope. Had he hit a home run? Yup.
Facing Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander in the home second, Rodriguez drove a 92-mph fastball into the left-field seats at Yankee Stadium. The longball tied the game 1-1. In his next at-bat, Rodriguez earned another round of cheers, driving in another run with a single off Verlander.
With his 648th career home Rodriguez is just 12 behind Willie Mays' career total of 660. Mays ranks fourth on the all-time career home run list behind Babe Ruth (714), Hank Aaron (755) and Barry Bonds (762).
The career home run leaders aren't the only baseball legends whose numbers are being surpassed by Rodriguez. Rodriguez's deep blast off Verlander gave him 1,951 career RBI. His single in the third inning moved him to 1,952 career RBI. With these runs batted in, Rodriguez edged ahead of Stan Musial on the all-time career RBI rankings and into sixth place. Rodriguez trails Lou Gehrig (1,992), Bonds (1,996), Cap Anson (2,075), Ruth (2,220) and Aaron (2,297), according to Baseball-Reference.