New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez smacked his 549th career home run and became part of the first instant replay review in Major League history today.

“A-Rod” was the star attraction in New York’s 8-4 triumph over the Tampa Bay Rays by moving past retired Philadelphia star Mike Schmidt for 12th-place on the all-time major league homer list.

The highly paid superstar and 2007 league Most Valuable Player has struggled for the Yankees as they fight to reach an American League playoff berth this season.

Today, Rodriguez smashed a ball down the left-field line off Tampa Bay relief pitcher Troy Percival but where it landed was uncertain, forcing umpires to go to the videotape in a historic first consultation.

Major League Baseball implemented the use of limited instant replays last week, to be used only to decide whether fly balls went over the outfield fence or if potential home runs were fair or foul balls.

After stopping the game for more than two minutes to watch the replay, umpires exited the video display room and ruled the ball Rodriguez hit had curled over the top of the foul pole before landing in foul territory.

Rodriguez, therefore, had his home run and two pieces of baseball history.

“There are probably 800 players in the big leagues and the odds of me being involved were probably 2-to-1,” Rodriguez said.

“It’s funny. Somehow I find myself in those situations all the time.

“It was just nice to get the right call and get a fair ruling.”

Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon went out to argue the call to no avail.

“We all believed it was a home run, but since the technology is in place, we made the decision to use the technology and go look at the replays and the replays we reviewed were conclusive that the call we made was correct,” said umpire crew chief Charlie Reliford.

© AFP 2012

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