Single Season HR Records

Posted by Steve Lombardi on April 13, 2011

Have you ever looked at the single season HR records in terms of pre-1987, post-2003 and during the period 1987 through 2003?

Here are the breakdowns...

First, Pre-1987:

Rk	Player	HR	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA
1	Roger Maris	61	1961	26	NYY	AL	161	698
2	Babe Ruth	60	1927	32	NYY	AL	151	691
3	Babe Ruth	59	1921	26	NYY	AL	152	693
4	Hank Greenberg	58	1938	27	DET	AL	155	681
5	Jimmie Foxx	58	1932	24	PHA	AL	154	701
6	Hack Wilson	56	1930	30	CHC	NL	155	709
7	Mickey Mantle	54	1961	29	NYY	AL	153	646
8	Ralph Kiner	54	1949	26	PIT	NL	152	667
9	Babe Ruth	54	1928	33	NYY	AL	154	684
10	Babe Ruth	54	1920	25	NYY	AL	142	616
11	George Foster	52	1977	28	CIN	NL	158	689
12	Willie Mays	52	1965	34	SFG	NL	157	638
13	Mickey Mantle	52	1956	24	NYY	AL	150	652
14	Willie Mays	51	1955	24	NYG	NL	152	670
15	Ralph Kiner	51	1947	24	PIT	NL	152	666
16	Johnny Mize	51	1947	34	NYG	NL	154	664
17	Jimmie Foxx	50	1938	30	BOS	AL	149	685
18	Harmon Killebrew	49	1969	33	MIN	AL	162	709
19	Frank Robinson	49	1966	30	BAL	AL	155	680
20	Harmon Killebrew	49	1964	28	MIN	AL	158	682
21	Willie Mays	49	1962	31	SFG	NL	162	706
22	Ted Kluszewski	49	1954	29	CIN	NL	149	659
23	Lou Gehrig	49	1936	33	NYY	AL	155	719
24	Lou Gehrig	49	1934	31	NYY	AL	154	690
25	Babe Ruth	49	1930	35	NYY	AL	145	676

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/13/2011.

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Next, from 1987 through 2003:

Rk	Player	HR	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA
1	Barry Bonds	73	2001	36	SFG	NL	153	664
2	Mark McGwire	70	1998	34	STL	NL	155	681
3	Sammy Sosa	66	1998	29	CHC	NL	159	722
4	Mark McGwire	65	1999	35	STL	NL	153	661
5	Sammy Sosa	64	2001	32	CHC	NL	160	711
6	Sammy Sosa	63	1999	30	CHC	NL	162	712
7	Mark McGwire	58	1997	33	TOT	ML	156	657
8	Alex Rodriguez	57	2002	26	TEX	AL	162	725
9	Luis Gonzalez	57	2001	33	ARI	NL	162	728
10	Ken Griffey	56	1998	28	SEA	AL	161	720
11	Ken Griffey	56	1997	27	SEA	AL	157	704
12	Jim Thome	52	2002	31	CLE	AL	147	613
13	Alex Rodriguez	52	2001	25	TEX	AL	162	732
14	Mark McGwire	52	1996	32	OAK	AL	130	548
15	Cecil Fielder	51	1990	26	DET	AL	159	673
16	Sammy Sosa	50	2000	31	CHC	NL	156	705
17	Greg Vaughn	50	1998	32	SDP	NL	158	661
18	Brady Anderson	50	1996	32	BAL	AL	149	687
19	Albert Belle	50	1995	28	CLE	AL	143	629
20	Sammy Sosa	49	2002	33	CHC	NL	150	666
21	Jim Thome	49	2001	30	CLE	AL	156	644
22	Todd Helton	49	2001	27	COL	NL	159	696
23	Shawn Green	49	2001	28	LAD	NL	161	701
24	Barry Bonds	49	2000	35	SFG	NL	143	607
25	Albert Belle	49	1998	31	CHW	AL	163	706
26	Larry Walker	49	1997	30	COL	NL	153	664
27	Ken Griffey	49	1996	26	SEA	AL	140	638
28	Andre Dawson	49	1987	32	CHC	NL	153	662
29	Mark McGwire	49	1987	23	OAK	AL	151	641

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/13/2011.

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Finally, Post-2003:

Rk	Player	HR	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA
1	Ryan Howard	58	2006	26	PHI	NL	159	704
2	Jose Bautista	54	2010	29	TOR	AL	161	683
3	Alex Rodriguez	54	2007	31	NYY	AL	158	708
4	David Ortiz	54	2006	30	BOS	AL	151	686
5	Andruw Jones	51	2005	28	ATL	NL	160	672
6	Prince Fielder	50	2007	23	MIL	NL	158	681
7	Albert Pujols	49	2006	26	STL	NL	143	634
8	Ryan Howard	48	2008	28	PHI	NL	162	700
9	Alex Rodriguez	48	2005	29	NYY	AL	162	715
10	Adrian Beltre	48	2004	25	LAD	NL	156	657
11	Albert Pujols	47	2009	29	STL	NL	160	700
12	Ryan Howard	47	2007	27	PHI	NL	144	648
13	David Ortiz	47	2005	29	BOS	AL	159	713
14	Prince Fielder	46	2009	25	MIL	NL	162	719
15	Carlos Pena	46	2007	29	TBD	AL	148	612
16	Alfonso Soriano	46	2006	30	WSN	NL	159	728
17	Derrek Lee	46	2005	29	CHC	NL	158	691
18	Adam Dunn	46	2004	24	CIN	NL	161	681
19	Albert Pujols	46	2004	24	STL	NL	154	692
20	Ryan Howard	45	2009	29	PHI	NL	160	703
21	Lance Berkman	45	2006	30	HOU	NL	152	646
22	Manny Ramirez	45	2005	33	BOS	AL	152	650
23	Barry Bonds	45	2004	39	SFG	NL	147	617
24	Mark Reynolds	44	2009	25	ARI	NL	155	662
25	Jermaine Dye	44	2006	32	CHW	AL	146	611
26	Mark Teixeira	43	2005	25	TEX	AL	162	730
27	Manny Ramirez	43	2004	32	BOS	AL	152	663

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/13/2011.

What I find interesting here is that, when you look at the "leaders" in each group, the Post-2003 group spans from 2004 through 2010, and, the 1987-2003 group spans from 1987 to 2002. But, the Pre-1987 group spans from 1920 to 1977. So, from 1978 through 1986, no one in that time period could crack this leader list.

Think we will ever see a time, now, or in the future, where we go nine years or so without anyone coming near the single season HR "leaders" in his particular "power era"?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 13th, 2011 at 11:49 am and is filed under Season Finders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

32 Responses to “Single Season HR Records”

Thomas Court Says:
April 13th, 2011 at 12:24 pm
It always amazes me that Sosa could hit 60+ home runs on three occasions and not lead the league in any of them. Speaks to the absurdity of home runs in the steroid era.

The only similar comparison to this is Juan Marichal in the pither's era 1960s. Every National League pitcher since the CY Young was invented that has won 25 games has won the award; except the three years that Marichal accomplished the feat. To quote Bill James: "Not only did Marichal fail to win any of the three awards, he actually failed to gather a vote in any of the three seasons." He was done in by the best seasons of Sandy Koufax ('63'66) and Bob Gibson ('68).
Doug Says:
April 13th, 2011 at 12:26 pm
We may be heading into such an era now of diminished HR numbers.

Notice that in your post-2003 list, 21 of 27 seasons are from the first 4 years (through 2007), but only 6 from the last 3 years (and only one from 2010).
michael collins Says:
April 13th, 2011 at 12:47 pm
Not one Hank Aaron
dukeofflatbush Says:
April 13th, 2011 at 12:48 pm
2007-08-09-10, had only three American leaguers crack 40, albeit 2 were 54, but four years-three players, DHs and all. In '06 there were 4 American leaguers that slapped 40. One more than the next 4 years.
I'd say homers are definitely in decline.
dukeofflatbush Says:
April 13th, 2011 at 12:50 pm
Sorry Doug,
You made my point as I was writing it. Shoulda refreshed the page.
Johnny Twisto Says:
April 13th, 2011 at 1:52 pm
Think we will ever see a time, now, or in the future, where we go nine years or so without anyone coming near the single season HR "leaders" in his particular "power era"?

If you compare a 100-year period to an 8-year period, it's exceedingly more likely the former will have a long stretch in which no one qualifies.
Brett Says:
April 13th, 2011 at 2:00 pm
Average age of the 3 groups:

Pre-87: 29.04 years
87-03: 30.17 years
03-11: 28.37 years

An old Ruth and an old Bonds & McGwire drives up the ages of the first two categories.
TheIronHorse Says:
April 13th, 2011 at 2:51 pm
On the list from 1987-03, Brady Anderson sticks out. Only 210 career
homers. Cecil is next lowest at 319. That is a significant difference.

Brady isn't the only one whom suspicions can be cast at.

But his peak was the most significant.
nightfly Says:
April 13th, 2011 at 6:19 pm
From 1965 (Mays) to 1990 (Fielder), a span of 24 seasons ('66-'89), George Foster is the only man to hit 50 or more homers in a season (1977).

I did a quick examination a few years ago about home runs... how the real effects weren't just in the top numbers, but in the number of guys who were suddenly hitting 20 and 30 home runs. There were years when entire teams would only hit 75 homers, when a team would have a leader in the teens somewhere. In the larger span of 1974-1992, there were a few spikes in home run rates, but nothing like the homer-per-game rates from 1994-2009 inclusive.... and it was a rising tide that lifted all boats.

Aha, found it. I checked 87-90, and the number of people who hit twenty home runs were 78, 43, 36, 43. (This was before BR.com and the Play Index, so I had to actually load up the team pages elsewhere and count it by hand - it may be off.) Further back, the numbers for '83-'86: 41, 49, 59, 60. With the exception of the rabbit-ball year, 1987, the number of 30+ stayed relatively stable from '83-'90: 12, 10, 13, 13, 28 (!!), 5, 10, 12.

In 2004, which is when I wrote the post, there were *93 guys* with at least twenty taters. Everybody was just hitting mad dingers - middle infielders, catchers, seven-hitters, two-hitters - if your cat played major league ball in the steroid era it probably hit 20 homers, right along with Mark DeRosa, Jacques Jones, Kelly Shoppach, and J J Hardy.
dukeofflatbush Says:
April 13th, 2011 at 9:19 pm
Mr. Whiskers only had 17 HRs but strained his oblique in August.
kingcrab Says:
April 13th, 2011 at 9:24 pm
looking at this year's hr leaders, burrell has 4 homers and 4 ribs, has there anyone else that has been as stingy with his driving in baserunners to start the season?
Neil L. Says:
April 13th, 2011 at 10:02 pm
Hmmm..... trying ti digest all the data here, will this year's HR leader be under 50?

Who will it be?

Fielder? Pujols? Cabrera? Rodriguez?

Go ahead, go out on a limb........
Tom Says:
April 13th, 2011 at 10:22 pm
Two factors, it was researched by URI that MLB changes the ball in 1998, maybe it was 1999 and that the ball itself had much more bounce. It is on Mike Silva's blog.

Secondly you had expansion in 93 and 98, that also was a large factor as homeruns always go up during that time period.

There are more factors than drugs, but drugs are not new to baseball and for my money, you say Brady Anderson but I always look at Davey Johnson and his 43 homeruns, 17 of which came on road in 73, when Tom House said - in 60's and 70's we never got beat we got out milligrammed. Until 2010 it was Johnson who had the biggest hr jump in history.
-mark Says:
April 14th, 2011 at 5:10 am
I wonder if it will be possible to statistically take into account the steroid effect? It seems to me that it is in there, and pretty late as well.

For example, looking at Bonds v A-Rod makes an interesting comparison. The general supposition is that he went on the juice around the end of 1999. Before 2000 he was pretty much a high 30s HR hitter. After that he went to high 40s with that 73 in there. Interestingly, for me, is that he was 35 when this happened, which is kind of odd. Power normally declines with age, no?

A-Rod started in 1996 showing pretty good power, then went ballistic in 1998 and remained that way through 2007. Now he is back to being a 30 run kind of guy at 32. A juice effect? I suspect so, though we won't know for real.

I suspect that it might be some time before we get above 56 again. Then, baseball has always managed to surprise.
SABRSteve Says:
April 14th, 2011 at 8:42 am
@ #11 Kingcrab: Howie Kendrick is also 4 & 4. The next lowest RBI total is 7 for Jorge Posada.
steve Says:
April 14th, 2011 at 8:50 am
Nice work. Born in 1972, I grew up thinking 50 home runs was an astronomical total - providing legendary status to guys like Mantle and Mays who reached that number multiple times.

The 'live ball'/'steroid'/tight zone'/'small park' phenomonon really started in 1993 or 1994. So I think you can extend your first sample through that date for maximum effect.

I probably would group home run history into three segments;

1871-1920 Dead Ball
1921-1993 Live Ball
1994-2007 Juiced Ball
2010- Live Ball

It seems we're finally reaching some level of stability now that matches what we were seeing in the 1950-1965 period. Which was, at the time, a home run era.

I think the reason for this stabilization has just as much to do with a standardized strike zone (Quest Tec) as it does the drug tests. I think the remaining excess over the 1970-80s era is the small park effect. But its just conjecture since I have no data to support this.
steve Says:
April 14th, 2011 at 8:51 am
I guess I added a fourth segment:)
Johnny Twisto Says:
April 14th, 2011 at 12:16 pm
Home runs have *generally* trended upwards since 1920. We will need much more perspective to know what 2010 meant. Like the stock market, if you look at any single season or even a 5- or 10-year period, you may see HR drop or stay flat. But over the long period they have always been rising. Even in the "year of the pitcher" last season, there were more HR per game than any season in history prior to 1994 (except 1987). There are so many more factors involved than STEROIDS.

Correlation of HR/G to year for 1918-2010 is 0.85. Pick any two random seasons during that span, and chances are there were more homers hit in the later.
Michael E Sullivan Says:
April 14th, 2011 at 12:19 pm
the late 60s thru early 80s were something of a second dead-ball era, nothing like the first, but significantly lower runs, obp, and power than either 1920-1965 or 1987-2011. I remember reading columns in the 80s suggesting that the then current home run records (Maris and Aaron) were unbreakable, and that Foster might end up being the last guy ever to hit 50 HRs in a season.

Looking at how many seasons were over 40 home runs in some 21 years periods points out this difference very clearly.

1966-1986 had 40 seasons of 40 or more home runs. 1945-1965 had 62, and note that major expansion happened in the 60s, so you would expect a lot *more* big homer seasons all else being equal, since you have a lot more batters.

From 1924-1944, there were 89 40+ HR seasons. And again, fewer opportunities than even in 1945-1965 since expansion started in 1960.

Considering the different number of teams, the modern "juiced" era of 1987-2007 and its 158 seasons is roughly equivalent to the 1924-1944 era.

It's funny, we lionize Ruth and Gehrig who played in an era that was every bit as run and power heavy as all but the peak years of late, but we tend to assume that most of the 40 homer guys from the 90s/2000s were just juicers. But it really could be mostly a combination of parks, ball, strategy and pitching. Because that's what it was in the 1920s and 30s.

Ruth was certainly great, and he was a game changer because nobody really tried to hit home runs before he started. But was he really better than Mays or Aaron or Bonds? I don't know, but his era helps his HR totals nearly as much as Bonds era and steroids helped his. "random" 1920s/30s guys often hit a lot of home runs, just like "random" guys today.
dukeofflatbush Says:
April 14th, 2011 at 2:50 pm
@ Mike E,

I tend to think those numbers could be more useful if we knew how many guys that encompassed. For instance, the 24-44 time frame has 89 40 HR seasons, but by how many guys? Ruth, Gehrig, Foxx?
And those are 21 year periods, and only 28 40+ HR seasons occurred during 24-44.
DavidRF Says:
April 14th, 2011 at 2:54 pm
@19
The live-ball era didn't start until Ruth was in his mid-20s and he was still outhomering entire teams in 1929 at age 34. "random" 1920s players didn't hit that many HR's. The increased HR's of that era was more isolated to a handful of star players than it is today.
TrivialSteve Says:
April 14th, 2011 at 6:21 pm
Look at the age distributions. The Pre-1987 era is pretty evenly distributed between ages 26 - 34, which is pretty standard for an athletes peak performance. The post-2003 period is mostly bunched around 28 - 30, which you would expect given the more recent start date. The 1987-2003 era is between 26 - 35, but its bunched between 30 - 33. This is exactly the age when sluggers begin to see their power naturally begin the downward slide. Sort that era by age and you see the old guys are Bonds, McGwire and Sosa; the only non-steroids names in the top ten are Luis Gonzalez and Greg Vaughn. Shift that era's boundaries by a year and you add a 39 year old Bonds and a 32-year old Manny. Its like there should be a big blackhole in the MLB record book from 1996 through 2004.
TrivialSteve Says:
April 14th, 2011 at 7:03 pm
Not to harp on it, but Bonds's numbers are insane. As far as I can tell, no athlete in the history of major athletic competition (which really only goes back 150 years) has ever done what Bonds did: increase his already great performance by +50%. Through age 34, Bonds averaged 34 HRs a season. From age 35 on, he averaged 52, a 53% power increase at the age when most pros are in steady (if not steep) decline. Had Jordan done this when he came back to the Wizards, he would have averaged 48 ppg; had Sanders done this instead of retiring, he would have averaged 2,400 rushing yards a season. Granted, baseball is physically less demanding than either BB or FB, but even if Jordan and Sanders had had only 1/2 the performance increase Bonds did at similar ages, Jordan would have averaged almost 40 ppg for his last few years and Sanders would have spent the last few years of his career rushing for over 2,000 yards a season.
Tom Says:
April 14th, 2011 at 7:52 pm
For the record only Barry Bonds and Hank Aaron performed so well at a advanced age for a consistent time period. 17, 498 players or so . . . They both set career highs in ops, ops+ and Aaron performed better age 37 - 39 than 30 - 36. Much like Bonds . . . .
dukeofflatbush Says:
April 14th, 2011 at 8:28 pm
Johnny Twisto,
I know the steroid era is going to be with us and in our minds, just as the lowering of the mounds in '69 and the ball going 'live' in '21, but can't we consider some of the advantage was taken away now that we know several high profile pitchers were just as 'juiced' as their counterparts.
Just a thought.
dukeofflatbush Says:
April 14th, 2011 at 8:31 pm
@ the earlier post that said Bonds went from a 30+ HR guy to a 40 + HR guy, has to remember he also lost nearly 100 ABs a year after his 73 to both IBB & traditional BBs. His rate was off the charts in his late 30's, he just saw maybe two or three strikes a game.
Frank Clingenpeel Says:
April 14th, 2011 at 8:48 pm
Going out on Neil L.'s limb:

The NL leader, for the first time; Joey Votto, with 42.

And Pujols will beat him out for the MVP.
Neil L. Says:
April 14th, 2011 at 9:04 pm
@27

Frank, you have stones to pick Votto for HR leader. He may strike out the most in the majors this year but I'm not convinced he can hit 40+

Speaking of power hitters and strikeouts, are HR guys always "streaky"?
Mike Felber Says:
April 17th, 2011 at 3:33 am
Bonds also had a personally small Strike zone, he got more start treatment than Jordon.
Neil L. Says:
April 17th, 2011 at 7:01 pm
Mike, in your opinion, how and approximately when did that come about for Bonds?
Mike Felber Says:
April 18th, 2011 at 4:59 am
When you are great & famous even the arbiters of the sport are impressed & intimidated by you often. And subconsciously even those supposed to be impartial all want to have the legendary players succeed & emotionally identified with them.
Michael E Sullivan Says:
April 18th, 2011 at 6:12 pm
well you have a point duke, feel free to figure it out, I just plugged those years into a PI search and got a list of 89 seasons. It is very likely that a small group of hall of fame power hitters are responsible for a large share. OTOH, that's true for the other time periods as well.

Remember, there are a lot more players today than there were in 1929.

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