Even Belle Can Barely Believe It as He Reaches 50-Homer Mark : Baseball: He makes an MVP statement with 17th blast in September.

CLEVELAND —  Albert Belle thought 30 home runs in a short season would have been great. And 40 would have been unbelievable. But 50?

“If you’d told me I was going to hit 50 home runs, I don’t know what I would have told you. I probably would have laughed at you,” Belle said Saturday after he became the 12th player in major league history to reach that milestone.

Belle’s sixth-inning blast tied the game 2-2, and Carlos Baerga’s RBI single in the 10th won it as the Cleveland Indians defeat the Kansas City Royals, 3-2.

The Indians (99-44) won in their final at-bat for the 27th time this year.

“It’s been a Cinderella, storybook season,” said Belle, who rarely speaks with reporters. “This is icing on the cake. In 1991, it seemed like everything we did was wrong. We got our butts kicked. But everything has changed. To win 100 games would probably exceed our goals.”

Belle matched Babe Ruth’s record with 17 September home runs, and he extended his major league mark for homers in a two-month span to 31.

He’s the first to hit 50 in a season since Detroit’s Cecil Fielder hit 51 in 1990.

“If people don’t vote for Albert for MVP, then they have an agenda of their own,” Manager Mike Hargrove said. “I don’t see anybody else who should even come close to Albert. [Boston’s] Mo Vaughn is a great guy. I don’t think his year is anywhere near the magnitude of Albert’s.”

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Albert Belle became the 12th member of the 50-homer club. A look at how he rates on the single-season home run list: *--*

No. Player, Team Year 61 Roger Maris, N.Y. Yankees 1961 60 Babe Ruth, N.Y. Yankees 1927 59 Babe Ruth, N.Y. Yankees 1921 58 Jimmie Foxx, Philadelphia A’s 1932 58 Hank Greenberg, Detroit Tigers 1938 56 Hack Wilson, Chicago Cubs 1930 54 Babe Ruth, N.Y. Yankees 1920 54 Babe Ruth, N.Y. Yankees 1928 54 Ralph Kiner, Pittsburgh Pirates 1949 54 Mickey Mantle, N.Y. Yankees 1961 52 Mickey Mantle, N.Y. Yankees 1956 52 Willie Mays, San Francisco Giants 1965 52 George Foster, Cincinnati Reds 1977 51 Ralph Kiner, Pittsburgh Pirates 1947 51 Johnny Mize, N.Y. Giants 1947 51 Willie Mays, N.Y. Giants 1955 51 Cecil Fielder, Detroit Tigers 1990 50 Jimmie Foxx, Boston Red Sox 1938 50 Albert Belle, Cleveland Indians 1995

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