ALEX RODRIGUEZ

NEW YORK (AFP) — New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez belted his 600th Major League Baseball home run Wednesday, becoming the youngest of only seven players to reach the milestone.

The landmark blast came after a 12-game stretch without a homer from ''A-Rod'' and it came three years to the day after he hit his 500th career home run.

“That's amazing,” Rodriguez said. “To the day.”

Rodriguez's drive off a 2-ball, no-strike pitch from Toronto's Shaun Marcum in the first inning flew over the centerfield wall at Yankee Stadium for his 17th homer of the season, giving the Yankees a 2-0 lead over the Blue Jays.

The Yankees went on to beat Toronto 5-1 and end a three-game losing streak.

The ball – the 104th specially marked one used for his times at bat since he reached 599 homers – landed in Monument Park, an area where Yankees greats are memorialized, and a stadium worker retrieved the ball for him.

Rodriguez joined an elite collection of Major League Baseball legends that includes record-holder Barry Bonds with 762 homers, Hank Aaron with 755, Babe Ruth on 714, Willie Mays on 660, Ken Griffey Jr. on 630 and Sammy Sosa at 609.