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Best of Yardbarker: Expected and unexpected MLB milestones take center stage
Los Angeles Angeles DH Albert Pujols launched his 600th home run Saturday, a grand slam against the Minnesota Twins. Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

Best of Yardbarker: Expected and unexpected MLB milestones take center stage

It was quite a week in Major League Baseball. Even with the Stanley Cup Final and NBA Finals in full swing, a couple truly remarkable milestones took some of the spotlight off the court and ice and placed it onto the diamond.

It began last Saturday night, when Albert Pujols became just the ninth player in MLB history to reach the 600 home run mark, and he did it in style, launching a grand slam for No. 600.

Pujols' milestone inspired the 'Keeping it 600' quiz:

Someday, Pujols' jersey will most likely be retired by his former team, the St. Louis Cardinals, where he hit the majority of his home runs, earned three MVPs and won two World Series. Of course, no team has more retired numbers than the New York Yankees, who added to their collection in May to honor Derek Jeter. Yes, the 'Yankees sure know how to put numbers on the boards':

Can you name every New York Yankees player or manager to have his number retired?

This quiz does not include Jackie Robinson, who had his number retired across MLB, but never played for the Yankees. 

SCORE:
0/22
TIME:
6:00
1
Billy Martin
2
Derek Jeter
3
Babe Ruth
4
Lou Gehrig
5
Joe DiMaggio
6
Joe Torre
7
Mickey Mantle
8
Bill Dickey
8
Yogi Berra
9
Roger Maris
10
Phil Rizzuto
15
Thurman Munson
16
Whitey Ford
20
Jorge Posada
23
Don Mattingly
32
Elston Howard
37
Casey Stengel
42
Mariano Rivera
44
Reggie Jackson
46
Andy Pettitte
49
Ron Guidry
51
Bernie Williams

It wasn't only future Hall of Famers making history this week, however. As highlighted in this week's Three Up, Three Down, Scooter Gennett made his mark in the record books. Yes, Scooter Gennett, the 27-year-old second baseman who has only reached double digits in home runs once in a season, a career-high 14 last year: "If you're reading this article, it's safe to assume that you have a decent amount of interest in baseball. However, not even the most hardcore of baseball's followers can say that they've spent a decent amount of time thinking about Scooter Gennett. Yet, he flung himself onto the radar of every baseball fan on Tuesday night with one of the most gargantuan single-game performances in recent memory. On Tuesday night against the Cardinals, Scooter Gennett had a 5-for-5 night in which he slammed four home runs and brought in 10 RBIs in a blowout victory for the Reds."

Also featured in Three Up, Three Down were the Toronto Blue Jays and Houston Astros. The league-leading Astros are a cheat code right now: "As if they had not made the point clear enough, the Houston Astros are unfair. The game's top team is coming off the heels of playing not only their personal best of the year, they put together the best week of baseball in the league so far this season, bar none."

Meanwhile, the Jays got off to an atrocious start, playing the complete opposite type of baseball as the Astros. However, they've reversed that trend of late. So have the Toronto Blue Jays cheated death? "No team has been able to redefine themselves on the run better than the Jays have. They began their comeback still down some of their top guns, and are still without key parts of their attack now. Although Donaldson, Tulowitzki, Martin and Travis have returned to the lineup, and their rotation is nearly back to full strength, this team’s potential still has room to grow."

Toronto's de facto ace with Aaron Sanchez on the DL is Marcus Stroman, a pitcher who currently carries as 3.25 ERA and 6-2 record and also happens to be African-American. With the percentage of MLB players who are African-American a its lowest mark since integration, what is the climate between baseball and Black America today? "The idea of an immediate salvation is not realistic. Baseball re-building itself within the black community will take time, attention and intention. But while the popular idea is that solving baseball’s racial relevancy issues must start by introducing and igniting the fire for the game in the youth, it is truthfully an issue that involves all eras seeing value in the game."

Like Stroman, one of the most highly touted MLB Draft prospects is an African-American pitcher: 17-year-old Hunter Greene. Greene has a fastball that can top 100 miles per hour, and he's sure to hear his name called early in the 2017 MLB Draft. With the draft approaching quickly, we leave you with the best June draft first-round pick in the history of every MLB franchise:

More must-reads:

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