When we think back to the home run record before Hank Aaron and Roger Maris (or, if you prefer, Barry Bonds and Barry Bonds), all roads lead back to New York Yankee great and American Leaguer, Babe Ruth. His 714 career home runs, including 60 in 1927, are among the most famous achievements in the history of any sport. Without any attempt to overshadow the Bambino and his fellow A.L. sluggers, I thought I’d shine the spotlight on the Senior Circuit and highlight the great home run hitters of the National League, featuring a handful of my cards in the process.
DEADBALL ERA
The National League began in 1876 and its home run leader was George Hall, an Englishman from Stepney who stood 5’7″ and weighed all of 142 pounds. His 5 home runs that year for the (then) National League’s Philadelphia Athletics not only led the league but–since it was the league’s inaugural season–briefly gave Hall the career home run record as well. Unfortunately, Hall would not hit another home run after the 1876 season, leaving both his records open to rival sluggers.
Three years later, in 1879, Boston Red Stockings outfielder Charley Jones shattered the single season mark, nearly doubling it with 9 home runs. Jones fit the part of the modern day slugger a bit more, standing 5’11” and weighing in at 202 pounds. Despite his large strike zone, Jones managed to lead the league in walks as well, in addition to runs batted in and runs scored. Though the home run was still not regarded as the game-changer it is today, one can only wonder if fans of the 19th century game believed this mark would last forever or if maybe…just maybe…someone would eventually crack double digits.
Then along came the versatile Buck Ewing, catcher/outfielder/second baseman/shortstop/third baseman for the New York Giants. Despite entering the 1883 season with a high of two home runs, Ewing blasted 10 roundtrippers to go with 80 singles, 11 doubles, and 13 triples. Yes, it was the National League’s first ever quadruple double! Perhaps we would still be reading about Buck Ewing today (oh wait, you are!) were it not for a rule change that took place in Chicago the very next season.
Lake Front Park was a slugger’s paradise, boasting a right field fence less than 200 feet from home plate. The official scoring through 1883 was to count balls over the right field fence as ground rule doubles, and the White Stockings hit quite a few. However, in 1884, a rule change was introduced, and balls over the fence would count as home runs. Suddenly, baseball had its first Murderers Row. Ned Williamson, Fred Pfeffer, Abner Dalrymple, and Cap Anson swatted 27, 25, 22, and 21 homers respectively, not only sweeping the top four spots on that year’s leaderboard but boasting the four highest home run totals in the lofty nine year history of the National League. Their mightly lineup was the deadball equivalent of having Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and two Mark McGwires on your team, only the power hitting didn’t stop there. The 1884 White Stockings had seven players finish among the top ten in home runs–all of their position players except outfielder George Gore, who only missed by two.
THE ROARING TWENTIES
Williamson’s record would stand as the major league record until 1919 when outfielder/pitcher Babe Ruth, in his final season with the Red Sox, would belt 29. However, no National Leaguer would top Williamson until 1922 when Cardinals second baseman Rogers Hornsby would enjoy one of the finest hitting seasons imaginable. The Rajah would coast to the Triple Crown that year, belting 42 home runs, knocking in 152, and batting .401. The number two finisher in home runs that year, Cy Williams, hit only 26 home runs, ever so shy of the Williamson mark.
Hornsby’s 42 home runs would survive as the record for most of the decade, finally falling in 1929 to Phillies slugger Chuck Klein. Much like Williamson, Klein’s totals were greatly aided by the park he played in. The Baker Bowl was a friendly 280 feet to right field, and Klein took advantage to hit 25 of his 43 home runs at home. (One can certainly argue that Klein’s home/road differential is barely statistically significant. However, it has definitely proved ample fuel for the haters out there. You know who you are!)
WHAT THE HACK??
Standing 5’6″ but weighing 190 pounds, the barrelesque Chicago Cub, Lewis “Hack” Wilson, entered the 1930 season as a three-time home run champion (1926-1928) and the league’s reigning RBI king (159 in 1929, the most since Sam Thompson drove home 167 runs for the 1997 Detroit Wolverines). Wilson’s 1930 season, however, is the one for which he will always be remembered. His 56 home runs would remain the National League standard into the steroid era, and his 190 runs batted in (later updated to 191) remain the major league record. That he batted .356 that year makes him one of only four members–along with Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, and Mickey Mantle–of baseball’s elite .350/50 club.
MOST NL HOME RUN TITLES
While no player outside the steroid era has matched Wilson’s NL record of 56 home runs, these players each won four or more NL home run titles. An odd fact, though clearly Baker Bowl-assisted, is that of the 51 seasons listed, 28 of them were accomplished in the state of Pennsylvania.
- Mike Schmidt led the National League in home runs a record eight seasons (1974-1976, 1980-1981, 1983-1984, 1986) over a thirteen year stretch.
- Ralph Kiner led the National League in home runs his first seven seasons (1946-1952)! He also topped the 50 home run mark twice (1947, 1949).
- Mel Ott, the senior circuit’s career leader in home runs until Hank Aaron, led the National League in home runs six times (1932, 1934, 1936-1938, 1942).
- Gavvy Cravath led the National League in home runs six times (1913-1915, 1917-1919), though his total over those six years was only 96. And yes, like Chuck Klein, he also played his games in the Baker Bowl.
- Cy Williams led the National League in home runs four times (1916, 1920, 1923, 1927), the final three of these coming in the Baker Bowl.
- Chuck Klein led the National League in home runs four times (1929, 1931-1933), all in the Baker Bowl.
- Hack Wilson led the National League in home runs four times (1926-1928, 1930)
- Hank Aaron led the National League in home runs four times (1957, 1963, 1966, 1967) along his way to 755 career home runs, 733 coming in the National League.
- Willie Mays led the National League in home runs four times (1955, 1962, 1964-1965), topping the 50 home run mark twice (1955, 1965).
- Johnny Mize led the National League in home runs 4 times (1939-1940, 1947-1948)
CAREER HOME RUN LEADERS
Much has changed since George Hall held the NL lifetime home run record with five. Fans today recognize (or explicitly don’t recognize) Barry Bonds’ 762 home runs, all with the National League, and Hank Aaron’s 755 home runs, all but 22 in the National League, at the top of the leaderboard. But if Bonds broke Aaron’s record for NL four-baggers, whose record did Aaron break? And who were the career home run leaders even before that?
Roger Connor was the first National Leaguer to top the century mark, in 1894, retiring in 1897 with 138 home runs, 124 of them in the National League. While Connor’s major league record would stand more than 25 years and ultimately be broken by no less than the Sultan of Swat, his National League mark did not last long at all.
Neck and neck with Connor was Detroit Wolverine Sam Thompson, who surpassed the century mark and Connor as well during the 1895 season and finished his career in 1898 with a total of 126 home runs, all in the National League. (He would much later play in 8 games for the 1906 Detroit Tigers but not add to his home run mark.)
Thompson’s NL mark would hold up for just over 20 years, ultimately giving way to four-time home run champion Cy Williams, who hit his record breaking 127th home run during the 1923 season and finished his NL career with a then-amazing 251 home runs. Given that the league’s top pitchers are awarded the Cy Young Award, perhaps a case could be made that the top sluggers should win the Cy Williams award. (I know, sigh!)
Williams would see his mark fall in 1929 to the great Rogers Hornsby, who went on to extend the NL record for career homers to 298. (Three home runs with the St. Louis Browns of the AL also made Hornsby only the second member of the 300 club.) Eight years later, Mel Ott would establish himself as the league’s home run king, passing Hornsby in 1937 and ultimately finishing his 22-year New York Giants career with 511 home runs.
It would be many years before any National Leaguer even threatened Ott’s mark. Into the early 1960s, Stan Musial was the closest such challenger. Like Ott, he spent his 22-year career with a single team–in Musial’s case the St. Louis Cardinals. Musial retired as the only member (to that point) of the 300/3000 club, finishing his career with 475 home runs and a then NL record 3630 hits. Still, Ott’s mark proved durable as Musial ended up 36 home runs shy.
Another close honorable mention went to Braves third baseman Eddie Mathews who finished his career with 512 home runs, one more than Ott, but had his final nine come with the AL’s Detroit Tigers. Still, Mathews’ 503 NL home runs through the end of the 1966 season stood as the league’s third highest total ever. Third, not second, because it was also during the 1966 season that Willie Mays passed not only Mathews but Ott as well. By season’s end, Mays not only held the new NL mark of 542 but passed Ted Williams and Jimmie Foxx to stand second all-time to only Babe Ruth.
It was in the 1972 campaign that Mays’ fresh NL mark was surpassed by Hank Aaron, and the two players would go on to retire as two of the three greatest home run hitters ever to play the game.
So there it is…the passing of the torch went (among 100 HR hitters) from Connor to Thompson to Williams to Hornsby to Ott to Mays to Aaron…and Bonds if you like. And today, here is the NL 500 club, a club that didn’t even exist until 1945 and had only a single member for the next 20 years.
500 HOME RUNS AS NATIONAL LEAGUER
| Player | NL HR | MLB HR |
| Barry Bonds* | 762 | 762 |
| Hank Aaron | 733 | 755 |
| Willie Mays | 660 | 660 |
| Mike Schmidt | 548 | 548 |
| Sammy Sosa* | 545 | 609 |
| Willie McCovey | 521 | 521 |
| Ernie Banks | 512 | 512 |
| Mel Ott | 511 | 511 |
| Eddie Mathews | 503 | 512 |
P.S. Careful readers may wonder if McCovey’s NL total is off given that he spent some time with the Oakland A’s. However, Stretch failed to hit a single home run in his 11 games as an ALer, so all is good.
Jason Cards 