It used to be the plateau.  It used to be the mile marker.  500 career home runs used be a guaranteed ticket into the Baseball Hall of Fame.  However, after the steroids scandal, it's a mark that has lost it's luster.  Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmiero, Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez have all reached this plateau, and it is likely that none will make the Hall of Fame.  Can clean players ever save this once sacred statistic?

Last night, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim first baseman Albert Pujols hit his 499th and 500th home runs in the same game, the first player to ever do that.  Pujols, who won two World Series titles with the St. Louis Cardinals, has been the gold-standard for sluggers over the last decade.  After leaving St. Louis for Anaheim in 2012, he has struggled to find his swing, until this season where he leads the league in homers.  A 3-time NL MVP, Pujols has the credentials that would surely make him a hall-of-famer.

The question now comes about whether his achievement still means what it once was.  Let's be clear that I am not insinuating that Pujols has ever used performance-enhancing drugs.  He has never been named by anyone other than one radio host who could not substantiate his claims and later recanted. He has never been suspended, nor named in any inquiry.  Albert Pujols has never done anything to draw suspicion other than hit 500 HRs in an era when no slugger is trusted.  That's not fair to him.  His achievements are completely legitimate.  But because of the widespread use of PED's that tainted baseball in the time he has played, no player can escape suspicion.  And that is the unfortunate reality of our time.

The Home Run Race of 1998, as entertaining as it was, shattered so many fans' faith in baseball when the truth about McGuire and Sosa was revealed.  Barry Bonds' 765th HR, which broke Hank Aaron's mark, was met with as little celebration as humanly possible for such an event.  Bonds owns both the career and single-season HR marks, and he has no shot at making the Hall of Fame at this point.  That is what baseball has to deal with. It's most revered records are now worthless.

Albert Pujols has done something only 25 players before him have accomplished.  He has joined a club that includes legends such as Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Ted Williams and Willie Mays.  If evidence of cheating ever surfaces, then Pujols will pay the same price that many in his era have faced.  But there is still hope that The Machine can restore a little sanctity to the 500 HR Club.  Hopefully other clean players will join him soon.

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