This is a stat that gets asked about all the time: which players have hit more homers in a season than singles? It has been answered before, but I thought I'd show it all in a single list since it's now so easy to do with the PI arithmetic function. These lists actually include players with as many homers as singles as well.

I calculated this group as anybody with HR > 0.999 * singles, meaning basically anybody with as many or more homers than singles. I set the minimum to 5 HR. This list goes back to 1901.

It is unsurprising that the feat has become much more common in the Steroids Era (starting in 1992/1993 and ending...not sure....2006? 2007? 2009? not yet?) With homers more prevalent, it's easier for this "statistical anomaly" happening where a guy hits more over the fence, especially when we set the bar fairly low at just 5 HR. If we ignore the HR >= 5 requirement, then the anomaly has happened 563 times since 1901, mostly seasons with 1 HR and 1 or 0 singles.

We see 3 pitchers on there (#4 Zambrano, #21 Drysdale, and #22 Harshman), all of whom were known for their hitting.

For a career, here are the leaders:

There are a bunch of guys down at the 1 HR level but I lopped them off this table. Staton holds the career record and there's probably a decent chance that he never gives that one up. My man George Canale, who I once saw hit 2 HR in a minor league game, also makes the list.

I looked at some other ratios as well. I compared career HR totals vs career single totals, allowed for a smaller multiplying factor. For example, there are only two guys whose career HR totals are at least 70% of their career singles totals (minimum 10 HR.) They are Mark McGwire (583 HR, 785 singles) and Mike Hessman (13 HR, 16 singles.) Hessman isn't necessarily done in the majors although he had a fairly poor year in AAA in 2009 and is already 31 years old. You have to drop down under 60% to find any other big boppers. In the range of 50% to 59.9% are Bonds, Dave Kingman, Adam Dunn, Ryan Howard, Carlos Pena, Russell Branyan, Marcus Thames, Bobby Estalella, and Kevin Roberson.

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