http://gty.im/52446691

September 17, 1984

The California Angels were playing the Kansas City Royals in the first of a four game series in Anaheim. The Angels were only a half a game behind the Royals and the Minnesota Twins in the American League West. The Twins had already lost, so a win would put the Angels in first place.

Unfortunately for the Angels, that win would not come tonight. The Royals scored two in the first inning on a pair of home runs, then they scored five more times by to give them a 7-0 lead at the seventh inning stretch. The home crowd had nothing to cheer for.

Reggie Jackson came to the plate to lead off the seventh inning. Jackson was 0-1 with a walk. Left hander Bud Black had been pitching a great game, giving up just two singles through six innings.

Jackson hammered the first pitch from Black deep into the right field seats for his 500th career home run. With that swing, he became just the 12th member of the exclusive 500 Home Run Club.

[iframe id=”http://m.mlb.com/shared/video/embed/embed.html?content_id=20005547&topic_id=6479266&width=400&height=224&property=mlb” maxwidth=”400″]

The Royals went on to win the game by a score of 10-1. They also won the division by 3 games over the Angels. But Angel fans would remember this as the day that Reggie Jackson hit his 500th home run.

Jackson finished the season with 25 home runs, giving him 503 for his career. He would play two more seasons for the Angels and one with the Oakland A’s, hitting 60 more home runs. Mr. October would play in one more playoff series, the American League Championship Series against the Boston Red Sox.

When he retired, Jackson had 563 home runs and trailed only Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714), Willie Mays (660), Frank Robinson (586), and Harmon Killebrew (573) on the all-time list.

Birthdays

1927 George Blanda

1945 Phil Jackson

1970 Mark Brunell

1975 Jimmie Johnson