When Mike Hessman entered professional baseball, as a 15th-round draft choice in 1996, he fixed his mind on reaching an annual statistical benchmark.
“One of the goals I set out for every season was to get to 20 home runs,” Hessman said the other day, on the phone from Toledo, Ohio. “The rest is history.”
Hessman, 37, now sits alone atop the career home run list for the affiliated minor leagues. He has met his annual goal almost every season he has played — 14 times in all — and on Monday he swatted his 433rd in the minors.