Ryan Howard homered for the Phillies in their first game of the second half. It was his 200th career home run and it was one for the record books. Howard, the St. Louis native and Missouri State alum became the fastest player to reach 200
homers.
Howard reached the plateau in just 658 games, hitting his 23rd homer of the season in the sixth inning of a 4-0 win over Florida. The record was held by Ralph Kiner who hit his 200th in his 706th game.
It took Albert Pujols 789 games to hit his 200th home run. Pujols is the only player in major league history to hit at least 30 home runs in his first nine seasons.
