HRs2

To determine how special those home run totals were, I first considered figuring what percentage of the total home runs hit by the league they were. However, that would unfairly favor hitters from the eight-team era, so I decided to look at the individual totals in context of the home runs hit by the top home run hitters in the league. Although Chart 2 shows that I used the top 5% of home run hitters in the league, that figure is inexact because I didn’t see the value in making all the complex calculations. I approximated the top 5% by using one player times the number of teams in the league. As teams average using about 20 hitters per year, picking one of 20 players is in the ballpark of 5%. As the differences between players in Chart 9 are not subtle, you will see that the margin of error created by fudging the 5% figure is trivial.

Chart 9. Significance of HR Relative to Top HR Hitters in League

Rank	Player	HR	Year	teams	leaders total	% of top 5%
1	Babe Ruth	54	1920	8	150	36.0000%
2	Babe Ruth	54	1928	8	170	31.7647%
3	Babe Ruth	60	1927	8	196	30.6122%
4	Babe Ruth	59	1921	8	197	29.9492%
5	Babe Ruth	47	1926	8	160	29.3750%
6	Babe Ruth	46	1924	8	157	29.2994%
7	Jimmie Foxx	48	1933	8	199	24.1206%
8	Lou Gehrig	47	1927	8	196	23.9796%
9	Jimmie Foxx	58	1932	8	260	22.3077%
10	Ralph Kiner	54	1949	8	246	21.9512%
11	Mickey Mantle	52	1956	8	251	20.7171%
12	Babe Ruth	46	1929	8	227	20.2643%
13	Hack Wilson	56	1930	8	280	20.0000%
14	Hank Greenberg	58	1938	8	293	19.7952%
15	Lou Gehrig	46	1931	8	234	19.6581%
	Babe Ruth	46	1931	8	234	19.6581%
17	Lou Gehrig	49	1936	8	260	18.8462%
18	Ernie Banks	47	1958	8	254	18.5039%
19	Babe Ruth	49	1930	8	268	18.2836%
	Lou Gehrig	49	1934	8	268	18.2836%
21	Ralph Kiner	47	1950	8	268	17.5373%
22	Harmon Killebrew	49	1964	10	285	17.1930%
23	Jimmie Foxx	50	1938	8	293	17.0648%
24	Ralph Kiner	51	1947	8	302	16.8874%
	Johnny Mize	51	1947	8	302	16.8874%
26	Eddie Mathews	46	1959	8	282	16.3121%
27	Joe DiMaggio	46	1937	8	284	16.1972%
28	Orlando Cepeda	46	1961	8	288	15.9722%
29	Ernie Banks	45	1959	8	282	15.9574%
30	Eddie Mathews	47	1953	8	296	15.8784%
31	Ted Kluszewski	49	1954	8	315	15.5556%
32	Willie Mays	51	1955	8	330	15.4545%
33	Willie Mays	47	1964	10	309	15.2104%
34	Frank Robinson	49	1966	10	326	15.0307%
35	Roger Maris	61	1961	10	406	15.0246%
36	Willie Mays	52	1965	10	350	14.8571%
37	Ted Kluszewski	47	1955	8	330	14.2424%
38	Harmon Killebrew	45	1963	10	316	14.2405%
39	Harmon Killebrew	48	1962	10	341	14.0762%
40	Mike Schmidt	48	1980	12	347	13.8329%
41	Willie Mays	49	1962	10	357	13.7255%
42	Mickey Mantle	54	1961	10	406	13.3005%
43	Kevin Mitchell	47	1989	12	364	12.9121%
44	George Foster	52	1977	12	412	12.6214%
45	Hank Aaron	45	1962	10	357	12.6050%
46	Dave Kingman	48	1979	12	390	12.3077%
47	Cecil Fielder	51	1990	14	415	12.2892%
48	Willie Stargell	48	1971	12	397	12.0907%
49	Hank Aaron	47	1971	12	397	11.8388%
50	Andre Dawson	49	1987	12	421	11.6390%
51	Mike Schmidt	45	1979	12	390	11.5385%
52	Mark McGwire	49	1987	12	427	11.4754%
53	Jim Gentile	46	1961	10	406	11.3300%
	Harmon Killebrew	46	1961	10	406	11.3300%
55	Willie McCovey	45	1969	12	400	11.2500%
56	Harmon Killebrew	49	1969	12	439	11.1617%
57	Rocky Colavito	45	1961	10	406	11.0837%
58	George Bell	47	1987	12	427	11.0070%
59	Frank Howard	48	1969	12	439	10.9339%
60	Alex Rodriguez	57	2002	14	526	10.8365%
61	Reggie Jackson	47	1969	12	439	10.7062%
62	Mark McGwire	70	1998	16	654	10.7034%
63	Ken Griffey Jr.	56	1997	14	525	10.6667%
64	Jim Rice	46	1978	14	434	10.5991%
65	Johnny Bench	45	1970	12	437	10.2975%
66	Barry Bonds	73	2001	16	710	10.2817%
67	Albert Belle	50	1995	14	490	10.2041%
68	Gorman Thomas	45	1979	14	444	10.1351%
69	Sammy Sosa	66	1998	16	654	10.0917%
70	Barry Bonds	46	1993	14	464	9.9138%
71	Jim Thome	52	2002	14	526	9.8859%
72	Mark McGwire	65	1999	16	662	9.8187%
73	Ken Griffey Jr.	56	1998	14	572	9.7902%
74	Larry Walker	49	1997	14	503	9.7416%
75	Alex Rodriguez	52	2001	14	542	9.5941%
76	Juan Gonzalez	46	1993	14	481	9.5634%
77	Sammy Sosa	63	1999	16	662	9.5166%
78	Ken Griffey Jr.	45	1993	14	481	9.3555%
79	Alex Rodriguez	47	2003	14	508	9.2520%
80	Jim Thome	49	2001	14	542	9.0406%
81	Sammy Sosa	64	2001	16	710	9.0141%
82	Andres Galarraga	47	1996	14	536	8.7687%
83	Rafael Palmeiro	47	2001	14	542	8.6716%
84	Mark McGwire	52	1996	14	600	8.6667%
85	Ken Griffey Jr.	48	1999	14	556	8.6331%
86	Albert Belle	49	1998	14	572	8.5664%
87	Troy Glaus	47	2000	14	553	8.4991%
88	Rafael Palmeiro	47	1999	14	556	8.4532%
89	Sammy Sosa	49	2002	16	583	8.4048%
90	Brady Anderson	50	1996	14	600	8.3333%
91	Ken Griffey Jr.	49	1996	14	600	8.1667%
92	Jose Canseco	46	1998	14	572	8.0420%
93	Luis Gonzalez	57	2001	16	710	8.0282%
94	Albert Belle	48	1996	14	600	8.0000%
95	Barry Bonds	46	2002	16	583	7.8902%
96	Juan Gonzalez	45	1998	14	572	7.8671%
97	Manny Ramirez	45	1998	14	572	7.8671%
98	Juan Gonzalez	47	1996	14	600	7.8333%
99	Sammy Sosa	50	2000	16	648	7.7160%
100	Jim Thome	47	2003	16	610	7.7049%
101	Greg Vaughn	50	1998	16	654	7.6453%
102	Barry Bonds	49	2000	16	648	7.5617%
103	Barry Bonds	45	2003	16	610	7.3770%
	Richie Sexson	45	2003	16	610	7.3770%
105	Jeff Bagwell	47	2000	16	648	7.2531%
106	Vinny Castilla	46	1998	16	654	7.0336%
107	Shawn Green	49	2001	16	710	6.9014%
	Todd Helton	49	2001	16	710	6.9014%
109	Chipper Jones	45	1999	16	662	6.7976%
	Greg Vaughn	45	1999	16	662	6.7976%
111	Richie Sexson	45	2001	16	710	6.3380%

The pattern is clear. Since Babe Ruth passed his prime, home runs have steadily declined in significance. Babe Ruth dominated baseball like Babe the Giant Blue Ox dominated the western landscape. No one else comes close. Jimmie Foxx had the seventh highest percentage in history, and it was more than 5% lower than Ruth’s sixth best percentage.

Harmon Killebrew had the highest percentage in the 10-team era. It ranks as the 22^nd best in history, but it’s less than half of Ruth’s percentage in 1920. Note how much more impressive Killebrew’s percentage in 1964 was than Roger Maris’s in 1961. The exaggerated home run totals in 1961 caused MLB to raise the mound and increase the strike zone from 1962-1968.

Mike Schmidt (1980) had the highest percentage in the 12-team era. It topped only half-a-dozen percentages from the 10-team era. Cecil Fielder topped the 14-team leagues with the 47^th highest percentage in history. McGwire’s 70-HR season ranks 62^nd. Bonds’s 73-HR season ranks 66^th. The bottom 38 percentages were established in the past decade.

continued