Today in Sports History: August 10th

8/10/1971 - Killebrew smacks #500

Minnesota Twins slugger Harmon Killebrew becomes the tenth player in baseball history to reach the 500 home run mark, which he hits off the Orioles' Mike Cuellar. Later, Killebrew added to his total in the sixth inning and became the first player to hit multiple home runs on the day he reached the 500 mark.

Of the original ten to get to 500, Killebrew is right there with Eddie Mathews as the most unassuming. Killebrew finished with 573 home runs, a tremendous total, but he ended his career with just a .256 batting average. Even though the 500 home run mark was essentially an automatic entrance to the Hall of Fame, it took Killebrew four tries to get in. Eventually, the player who hit the most homers in the 1960's got in with the rest of them.