The only other time it happened this century was 2015, when Bryce Harper smashed 42 big flies and won the NL MVP Award. The majority of Thome’s plate appearances came prior to the All-Star break, so it’s not surprising that the majority of his homers came during that time. His overall offensive performance was much better, though, as evidenced by his 1.059 OPS, which went down to .868 in the second half. He had just slugged 45 homers with 114 RBI the year prior, but he surpassed these marks in 1980 in fewer plate appearances, watching his slugging percentage go from .564 to .624.
Full-year historical Major League statistics provided by Pete Palmer and Gary Gillette of Hidden Game Sports.
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In 2013, he was named World Series MVP when he hit two home runs against the St. Louis Cardinals. Ortiz remains the only player to hit multiple walk-off blasts in one postseason. The drop in production from Ryan Howard was a sharp one toward the end of his career, but what he accomplished at the beginning more than made up for it all. As if hitting 22 homers in 88 games as a rookie and winning Rookie of the Year honors wasn’t enough, he broke the Phillies’ single-season home run record in his first full campaign with these 58 dingers.
This was the beginning of a pattern for the first baseman where he’d post a month with an OPS greater than .900, followed by another month with an OPS below .800. In the months he was good, Howard collected at least 10 homers and 25 RBI, which happened in May, July, and September. That final month was his best work, which included his highest monthly totals for homers and RBI , as well as his best OPS (1.274). Through the first four months of Schmidt’s season, he posted an OPS greater than 1.000 just once (it was in May — 1.189 with 12 homers and 29 RBI).
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Mike Schmidt and Ralph Kiner have the second and third most home run titles respectively, Schmidt with eight and Kiner with seven, all won in the National League. Kiner's seven consecutive titles from 1946 to 1952 are also the most consecutive home run titles by any player. Of the homer campaigns in AL/NL history by a player in his age-22 season or younger, three have come in the past three years -- one by Ronald Acuña Jr. , one by Guerrero and one by Tatis.
While eight players have won a league home run crown before turning 23, it’s never happened in both leagues during the same year. It's the first time that the first 5 players to reach 40 HR in a season were all born in different countries. Jim Thome finds his way on this list while also being heavily featured on the Guardians‘ single-season home run leaderboard.
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While A-Rod and Ernie Banks padded the number of 40-homer campaigns at the shortstop position , Tatis is just the fourth individual shortstop to hit 40 dingers in a season, joining those two and Rico Petrocelli. Three of this year’s 40-homer hitters are at positions that haven’t historically been known for power. Among the top five home run hitters are two Dominicans , a Venezuelan , a Japanese player and a Black player born in the United States . It’s easy to blame the pandemic-shortened season for limiting their home run opportunities, but there’s no guarantee Guerrero, Perez or Ohtani would have hit 30 in a 162-game season last year. A player is considered inactive if he has announced his retirement or has not played for a full season. Mike Schmidt led the National League in home runs eight times, the second most such titles in MLB history.
His 47-homer campaign was his first with the Phillies after spending the duration of his career prior to that season in Cleveland. It was actually his third straight season of 40-plus homers, a streak that would reach four when he did it again in 2004. At this rate, Howard’s .881 OPS had decreased for the second consecutive year after his MVP season in 2006, but he found others ways to make an impact. He led the league in both homers and RBI for the second time in three years and finished second in MVP voting to Albert Pujols. He did also end up winning a World Series later, so that seems like a solid trade-off.
The first home run champion in the National League was George Hall. In the league's inaugural 1876 season, Hall hit five home runs for the short-lived National League Philadelphia Athletics. In 1901, the American League was established and Hall of Fame second baseman Nap Lajoie led it with 14 home runs for the American League Philadelphia Athletics. Over the course of his 22-season career, Babe Ruth led the American League in home runs twelve times.
This list also includes Hall of Famers Mel Ott, Joe DiMaggio, Eddie Mathews and Johnny Bench, two-time MVP Juan Gonzalez and three-time MVP Alex Rodriguez. Jose Cruz of the Houston Astros had his number twenty-five retired on October 3, 1992, and became the first Major League player with that particular retired number. He also added an incredible 488-foot home run in the postseason that we’re all still in awe of. Sammy Sosa led the National League in home runs twice, with 49 and 50, but finished second four times with home run counts of 36, 66, 63, and 64. Alex Rodriguez led the American League in home runs five times, three with the Texas Rangers and twice with the New York Yankees. Ken Griffey Jr. led the American League in home runs in four seasons during the 1990s, including three consecutively from 1997 to 1999.
The Philadelphia Phillies have been around a long time, and with all that opportunity, they’ve watched 14 different seasons of 40-plus home runs happen by a player wearing their uniform. When looking at single-season Phillies home run leaders, there’s been a lot of repeat offenders over the years. Barry Bonds holds the Major League Baseball home run record with 762. The only other players to have hit 700 or more are Babe Ruth with 714 and Albert Pujols with 703. Alex Rodriguez , Willie Mays , Ken Griffey Jr. , Jim Thome , and Sammy Sosa are the only other players to have hit 600 or more. This is a list of the 300 Major League Baseball players who have hit the most home runs.
There have been eight 40-homer seasons by catchers, with Perez’s total leading all backstops. Bench , Mike Piazza , Javy Lopez, Roy Campanella and Todd Hundley are the other catchers with at least one 40-homer season. Guerrero and Tatis could make more history by the end of this season if they lead their respective league in home runs.
Albert Pujols and George Springer have a combined three World Series. Pujols is the 2004 NLCS MVP who went deep four times as he is one of 10 players to hit t three times in a postseason game. His most memorable homer came in a series his team lost which was the 2005 NLCS, hitting a ball off of Brad Lidge for a three-run shot to give St. Louis the lead in the top of the ninth inning. If Pujols made more than one postseason appearance with the Los Angeles Angels, he could have climbed to the top of this list. All images are property the copyright holder and are displayed here for informational purposes only. Jose Altuve is second on the all-time postseason leaderboard, ranking behind only Manny Ramirez with 29.
Of the four players to break Maris' record, one has since admitted to the use of performance-enhancing substances during his playing career and two others are both widely suspected to have used such substances as well. The 1998 and 2001 seasons each had four players hit 50 or more home runs – Greg Vaughn, Ken Griffey Jr., Sosa, and McGwire in 1998 and Alex Rodriguez, Luis Gonzalez, Sosa, and Bonds in 2001. A player has hit 50 or more home runs 42 times, 25 times since 1990. The lowest home run total to lead a major league was four, recorded in the NL by Lip Pike in 1877 and Paul Hines in 1878.
Semien is one of five second basemen (min. 50% of games played at the position) to hit 40-plus homers in a single season, along with Rogers Hornsby, Davey Johnson, Ryne Sandberg and Brian Dozier. The three players with 45-plus home runs this year -- Guerrero, Perez and Ohtani -- not only never reached 40 homers in a single season before 2021, they never hit 30, either. Carlos Correa and Nelson Cruz have as many postseason home runs as Reggie Jackson and Mickey Mantle. Cruz’s 18 postseason homers include six from his first trip in 2010. He followed up with eight in 2011, setting a record for a single series in the ALCS.
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