'Chicks dig the long ball' ... but will HOF voters?

With the count at 3-0 and the game in the ninth inning, my friend and I figured we'd have to come back on Sunday.

We'd been at Three Rivers Stadium Friday night, too, and witnessed the 499th home run hit by Michael Jack Schmidt, our favorite player while we were growing up in Harrisburg in the '70s.

The outlook didn't look so good for Saturday, April 18, 1987. Schmidt started 0-for-3, and in what we were assuming was his last at-bat of the day, Pirates pitcher Don Robinson had thrown three straight balls. With Pittsburgh winning 6-5 and two runners on base, it seemed like Robinson would have been wise to waste a pitch and take his chances with the next man in the lineup, rookie Chris James.

Instead, Robinson's pitch sailed into Schmidt comfort zone, and he launched it into the stands for home run No. 500 (and won the game for the Phils in the process). His feat was celebrated not only in Philadelphia, but throughout the baseball world, with the possible exception of Pittsburgh.

Twenty-two years ago, baseball enthusiasts could rattle off the legendary names in the 500-homer club, from Ott and Banks and Mathews to the trio at the top, Aaron, Ruth and Mays. Each and every one of the men who had reached that plateau had been enshrined, or eventually would be, in the Hall of Fame.

The other day, Gary Sheffield hit his 500th career home run as a pinch-hitter for the Mets. Did you know? Did you care?

Sheffield is yet another product of the era of the prevalent home run, when circumstances conspired to make baseballs sail out of parks with a frequency never seen before. Blame steroids; blame loaded balls; blame lousy pitching, as I do. Whatever the case, 500 home runs is no guarantee of immortality.

Heck, I remember when 400 homers ensured a trip to Cooperstown, until Dave Kingman came along. However many long balls you hit, a .236 career batting average isn't going to cut it.

Here are the players who have reached at least the 400 mark in the years since Schmidt hit his 500th: Chipper Jones, Mike Piazza, Cal Ripken Jr., Juan Gonzalez, Andre Dawson, Jeff Bagwell, Jose Canseco, Dave Winfield, Carlos Delgado, Fred McGriff, Sheffield, Eddie Murray, Frank Thomas, Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, Alex Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Ken Griffey Jr. and Barry Bonds.

Ripken, Winfield and Murray already have been voted into the Hall of Fame. But how many of those other guys are going to make it to Cooperstown?

Piazza is a shoo-in as probably the best-hitting catcher in history. Jones has a very good shot as a mainstay of all those Braves' division-winning teams, and Griffey has had a long, productive career despite losing significant time to injury.

As for the rest of them, Dawson has been received a good many votes, but so far, no good. Bagwell and Thomas probably will get serious consideration. And A-Rod's numbers eventually might be too much to ignore, despite his recent steroid-related issues.

Voters already have made it clear that McGwire and Canseco are persona non grata in Cooperstown, and they'll probably do the same for Palmeiro and Sosa. And even the all-time leader, Bonds.

That leaves Thome, McGriff, Delgado and Gonzalez. Wonderful players, all. But eventual Hall of Famers?

Stay tuned.

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Trivia #7: Which non-pitcher whose career started after 1900 has the fewest career home runs among Hall of Famers? Scroll down and look to the right for the answer