Table of Content
Well, if we really want to talk about a power surge during a shortened season, look no further than to what Luke Voit did for the New York Yankees. In 2019, he slugged 21 homers with 62 RBI over the course of 510 plate appearances. In less than half the number of plate appearances the following season , he out-homered himself with 22 and nearly drove in the same number of runs with 52. Well, whatever Alonso did worked because he not only made the New York Mets’ Opening Day roster, but he was also the starting first baseman and shattered just about everyone home run he could. Even when the homers technically didn’t count, he kept it coming in the Home Run Derby. In addition to breaking the rookie home run record, he also broke the Mets’ rookie and overall single-season record while winning the 2019 home run crown.
This is a list of the 300 Major League Baseball players who have hit the most home runs. Become a Stathead today and run queries with our Season and Career Finders to see the best seasons in MLB history. 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. Mike Schmidt led the National League in home runs eight times, the second most such titles in MLB history. Babe Ruth was first or second in the American League in home runs for every season from 1918 through 1933 except 1922 and set the single-season home run record four times.
Major League Baseball Home Run Leaders
We’re going to be working our way back as far as possible to honor each of them, but for now, we need to start small by reviewing the powerful seasons that took place between 2013 and 2022. 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. Lip Pike led the league with four home runs in 1877, tied with Paul Hines for the lowest total to ever lead a league.

This led the way for the Orioles to produce one of the most powerful seasons of all time. Like his counterpart in Chris Davis, though, this was also the last above-average year Trumbo enjoyed in the big leagues. Stanton also paired this with a career-high 105 RBI for the Marlins along with leading the league in slugging percentage (.555) and total bases . He won his first Silver Slugger Award and placed second in NL MVP voting to Clayton Kershaw. The outfielder never hit more than eight homers in a single month, but he reached that number three separate times .
thoughts on “MLB Home Run Leaders Since 2013”
After a lull in August , Schwarber got hot again, slugging 10 homers from September 1st to the end of the regular season. This was the kind of breakout season we had been clamoring for from Valdimir Guererro Jr. since he debuted for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2019. Unfortunately for him, it came at the wrong time when it comes to individual accolades, as Shohei Ohtani was the runaway AL MVP award winner. Coming in second isn’t all that bad, though, especially when it’s accompanied by a Silver Slugger award. Within this incredible season-long performance — which was the second-most homers in Padres history — he also hit one of the longest home runs of the season.

All images are property the copyright holder and are displayed here for informational purposes only. Schwarber put himself in this position thanks to a torrid June and July. Lots of Schwarb-bombs in the early summer months isn’t a surprise, though.
American League
Cruz’s 40-homer performance was his first of three straight years with 40-plus dingers and six straight with at least 30. I don’t know about you, but one of the first things I like to look at when reviewing the most recent seasons is who the MLB home run leaders are for each year. A player is considered inactive if he has announced his retirement or has not played for a full season.
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. An automatic home run is achieved by hitting the ball on the fly over the outfield fence in fair territory. More rarely, an inside-the-park home run occurs when the hitter reaches home plate while the baseball remains in play on the field. In Major League Baseball , a player in each league wins the home run title each season by hitting the most home runs that year.
MLB Season History - 2018
His 58 home runs in 1997 led neither league due to a mid-season trade which split this total across 2 leagues. He didn’t take home Rookie of the Year or MVP honors yet, but he’s won two Silver Slugger awards for his offensive efforts in 2020 and 2021. He’ll get himself to that MVP award at some point, one would imagine, as he’s already gotten two top-five finishes under his belt. The Kansas City Royals were the last MLB team to watch one of their players surpass the 40-homer plateau, amd my goodness did Jorge Soler make it worthwhile. He set a new franchise record and led the American League in dingers for the 2019 campaign. That’s what happened to Carter, as he latched on with the New York Yankees for a short time in 2017, and he hasn’t made it back to the big leagues since.
Ken Griffey Jr. led the American League in home runs in four seasons during the 1990s, including three consecutively from 1997 to 1999. Salvador Perez had to watch Soler’s power surge from the sidelines for all of 2019 because of an elbow injury. But once he finally had a full season to play in again, he was ready to join the party. Even though it was a shortened campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he made the most of his opportunity to get paid. One split stat I found interesting was that although his triple slash varied against righties and lefties, he found a way to post an identical .941 OPS in each situation.
That year and 2016 were a little extra special because he also enjoyed consecutive 40-homer performances. And while he came within one homer of his single-season career-high, his 133 RBI surpassed what he did the year prior. Cruz hit two dingers for the Orioles in October during this year, which has helped him be on our most postseason home runs in MLB history leaderboard for the time being.

Ruth set the Major League Baseball single-season home run record four times, first at 29 , then 54 , 59 , and finally 60 . Ruth's 1920 and 1921 seasons are tied for the widest margin of victory for a home run champion as he topped the next highest total by 35 home runs in each season. Maris' mark was broken 37 years later by both Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa during the 1998 home run record chase, with McGwire ultimately setting a new record of 70. Barry Bonds, who also has the most career home runs, then broke that mark, setting the current single season record of 73 in 2001.
In the Bronx, the first baseman posted a 1.193 OPS and 215 wRC+ with 16 home runs, while those numbers dropped to .693, 91, and six, respectively, as a visiting player. He put together a .948 OPS, 153 wRC+, and 1.8 fWAR in the process, which allowed him to secure his own top-10 finish in AL MVP voting for the first time in his career . His production was evenly distributed between the only two full months of the season, with 11 dingers in August and nine in September .

For more interesting stats — and a lot more dingers — check out Pete Alonso’s home runs through the years. That’s impressive in any situation, but especially when you finish a year with 59 home runs, which is among the most home runs in a season in MLB history. And after not getting a chance to keep the streak alive in 2020 because of the pandemic-shortened season, he surpassed the 30-homer mark again in 2021 with 32. We're asking for your help to make it through the offseason and ensure that we're here to cover baseball in the 2021 season and beyond.
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