<P> Howard was named to the 2009 All Star team and also competed in the Home Run Derby . </P> <P> On June 20, Howard was checked into the hospital early that morning with a 104 degree fever, but pinch - hit later that day, hitting a home run . A month later, against the Florida Marlins on July 16, Howard hit his 200th career home run, making him the fastest player ever to that mark . It took Howard 658 games to reach 200 long - balls, beating out the previous titleholder, Ralph Kiner (706 games). </P> <P> In August, Howard hit 11 home runs with 33 runs batted in, after just six the month before . On August 24, in a game against the New York Mets, Howard went 2 for 5 with 2 home runs and 5 runs batted in . Howard also recorded his 100th runs batted in of the season . This marked the fourth consecutive season that Howard had reached the 100 runs batted in mark . His batting average in the month was . 299, raising his overall average to . 275 . He was named the NL Player of the Month for these achievements . Howard was named NL Player of the Week on August 31 . Howard hit 5 home runs, 12 runs batted in, 28 total bases, and a 1,000 slugging percentage during that stretch . On September 18, in a game against the Braves, Howard hit his 39th and 40th home run of the season . This marked the fourth time in his career that he had hit 40 or more home runs in a season . On October 3, Howard hit his 45th home run of the season and became only the fourth player in Major League Baseball history (joining Babe Ruth from 1926--1931, Ken Griffey Jr. from 1996--1999, and Sammy Sosa from 1998--2001) to amass at least 135 RBI and 45 home runs in four consecutive seasons . </P> <P> Howard ended the season tied with Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder for the major league lead in RBI with 141 . </P>

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