Chisholm homers in 500th regular season game, has third-most homers and steals in first 500 games
AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
NEW YORK (AP) —
Jazz Chisholm Jr. appeared in his 500th game and joined some select company.
Chisholm homered into the second deck in right field Friday night to give the Yankees the lead in their 3-0 victory over the Athletics and giving him 89 career homers to go with 109 steals.
Chisholm’s homer off Mitch Spence in the second inning gave him the third-most homers and steals within the first 500 career games, trailing Eric Davis (107 homers, 190 steals) and former Yankee Alfonso Soriano (97 homers, 121 steals).
Davis played his 500th game on Sept. 15, 1988, for the Cincinnati Reds. He finished his career in 2001 as a member of the San Francisco Giants with career totals of 282 homers, 349 steals in 1,626 games.
“That’s pretty cool,” Chisholm said. “I didn’t know that. I just be out there playing and having fun but the first time I met Eric Davis, he’s one of the favorite players I watched when I was a kid,” Chisholm said. “So like watching his highlights and watching the way he plays, I feel like Byron Buxton is the closest person to him and watching Byron is just like watching E.D. (Eric Davis).”
Soriano played his 500th game on Sept. 27, 2003, during his penultimate regular-season contest with the Yankees before being traded to Texas in the offseason for Alex Rodriguez. Soriano finished his career in 2014 with the Yankees with totals of 412 homers and 289 steals in 1,975 games.
“I got to meet Alfonso in Miami,” Chisholm said. “I played with his little cousin. So for me talking about Alfonso and Eric and watching them as kids, those were the guys that I was kind of compared to in my swings even though (I’m) like small, (have) some power and some speed but yeah it’s kind of sick to have same accomplishments.”
After hitting Spence’s cutter, Chisholm shrugged his shoulders as he rounded third and did a little shuffle before crossing the plate.
Chisholm debuted Sept. 1, 2020, for the Miami Marlins and has 23 homers and 28 steals in 97 games for the Yankees, who acquired him last July 27 and moved him to third base.
Chisholm’s homer marked the 12th time in his career he went deep in consecutive games. It also gave him five homers since returning from a right oblique strain June 3, including one that stopped the Yankees’ 30-inning scoreless streak on June 18
