FanHouse JacobsField

Sammy Sosa has homered twice today in the Rangers game against the Cleveland Indians. This leaves him only six home runs shy of becoming the fifth man in baseball history to reach 600 career home runs.

Though Sosa will never catch Aaron or Bonds, his first home run today did set a record.

By hitting his first career home run in Jacob's Field, Sosa has now homered in more Major League ballparks than any other player in MLB history, forty-four.

Sosa hit the first pitch from Cleveland Indians starter Paul Byrd into the left-field seats leading off the sixth inning.

Sosa had been tied with Ken Griffey Jr, and Fred McGriff with homers in 43 ballparks. The only stadiums currently in use where the 38-year-old has not hit a homer are RFK Stadium in Washington and the new Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

Though it's not a record that most people generally keep track of, it's kind of cool when you think about it. A lot of baseball players don't hit 44 home runs in their career, let alone seperate ballparks.

Despite Sosa's milestone, the Rangers still trail the Indians 9-4 in the 8th inning. As always you can follow all the exciting action here using AOL's Scorecast.


Previously at the Fanhouse:
Sammy Made Sure Sox Fans Will Boo Him On Wednesday
Sammy Sosa Is A Lot Like Jesus

The Indians haven't played since Wednesday after having three games this weekend and a doubleheader today wiped out due to snow. Trying to re-schedule the games will be a headache -- the Mariners weren't originally schedule to return to Cleveland this year.

The Angels are expected to come to town for a three-game series on Tuesday, but Major League Baseball may decide to take drastic measures to avoid losing another series due to inclement weather (the forecast now calls for rain through Thursday), such as playing the entire series in Anaheim. From MLB.com:

"It's very unlikely, but we are looking at all possibilities," Cleveland general manager Mark Shapiro confirmed to MLB.com on Sunday afternoon.

"We've been in touch with Major League Baseball," said Angels spokesman Tim Mead, "but no decision will be made until the morning. They will continue to monitor the situation."

Of course, doing so would literally cost the Indians a few home games. The Angels and Indians will play two more series after this one, but those are already in Anaheim and -- between tickets already sold and cross-country travel -- it's not logistically possible to just flip-flop them.

But if this series is lost, as well, the Indians will almost certainly be forced to make up the games with a series of doubleheaders late in the year. What's more of a competitive disadvantage? Not playing a series at home or, say, squeezing 10 games into a week late in the year when everyone is already tired?

Maybe now baseball will finally seriously consider putting teams in cold-weather cities with open-air stadiums on the road for the first 7-10 days of the season when it comes time to make the schedule next year.