28 Responses to “Most HRs In 1st 2,267 Career Games”

1. birtelcom Says:
   August 4th, 2010 at 2:15 pm

   Of course this doesn't really work for Babe Ruth, whose career started before 1920. This list this will only show his first 2,267 games starting with 1920, not his first 2,267 career games.

2. Johnny Twisto Says:
   August 4th, 2010 at 2:27 pm

   Ruth had 666 HR in his first 2267 games.

3. Jason W Says:
   August 4th, 2010 at 2:34 pm

   At his current pace, Albert Pujols will have 590 HR by his 2,267th game.

4. Steve Lombardi Says:
   August 4th, 2010 at 2:34 pm

   Good catch guys - thanks.

5. Basmati Says:
   August 4th, 2010 at 2:35 pm

   Bonds got to the top of the list by hitting a lot of home runs later in his career. Compare that with guys like Griffey who tailed right off.

   Look at the guys with 500+ and there are two groups - some of the greatest hitters of all time (Ruth, Mays, Killebrew, Schmidt, Fox, Mantle, Williams, Aaron) and the best of this generation (Rodriguez, Sosa, McGwire, Griffey, Thome, Ramirez, Bonds, Thomas).

   We all know numbers have been inflated of late, the question is which of the second group deserve to be compared with the first group, and which are merely very good hitters benefitting from various factors?

6. DavidRF Says:
   August 4th, 2010 at 2:36 pm

   A-Rod's big advantage is on the age leaderboards.

   http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/leaders_34_bat.shtml

   Rank Player HR
   1. Alex Rodriguez 600
   2. Sammy Sosa 539
   3. Jimmie Foxx 527
   4. Babe Ruth 516
   5. Hank Aaron 510
   6. Willie Mays 505
   7. Ken Griffey 501
   8. Mickey Mantle 496
   9. Eddie Mathews 493
   10. Harmon Killebrew-487

   A-Rod gets a bit of a boost from the late-July birthday. The cutoff is June 30, so he's still only 34 in "baseball years".

7. Johnny Twisto Says:
   August 4th, 2010 at 2:38 pm

   I don't think I realized Ruth never played the OF until 1918. Strictly pitching and I guess some pinch hitting before that.

8. Rioraton Says:
   August 4th, 2010 at 2:42 pm

   A couple of observations - 7 of the top 10 on the list come from the "steroids era" - Ruth, Willie and Killer being the exceptions. But, only 1 of the next 10 (Thomas), then 6 from 21-30 and another 7 from 31-40. I'm not sure what that means, but it seems a weird distribution, especially when the others in the 11-20 group represent every decade from the 20's (Gehrig) through the 80's (Schmidt). I'm glad we have new research and ways to comapre players from different eras, but I still think we've completely evened out those 1990-2005 years yet.

   The other question is - how high will Pujols rank when he gets to game 2267? At his current pace (One HR every 3.84 games) he will rank 4th.

9. Johnny Twisto Says:
   August 4th, 2010 at 2:48 pm

   Considering Aaron, Mays, Robinson, Killebrew, Mantle were all of the same generation, maybe they benefited from various factors as well? Now they all seem "legit," but if you saw the 500-HR club go from 4 members to 11 in just six years, it probably seemed cheapened then as well.

10. Matt Says:
    August 4th, 2010 at 2:52 pm

    Does this account for multi-HR games? Looking at the query, it seems to count games where the player hit a homerun. What about games in which he hit more than one?

11. Rioraton Says:
    August 4th, 2010 at 2:54 pm

    Agreed, Johnny. Didn't someone do some research a few years ago that indicated home runs went up immediately following every expansion? If so, then all of thoseguys benefited from that.

12. DavidRF Says:
    August 4th, 2010 at 2:57 pm

    @9
    Banks (53-71) and Mathews (52-68) also hail from that generation. I guess you catch that with your 4 to 11 comment.

13. Johnny Twisto Says:
    August 4th, 2010 at 3:18 pm

    Matt, yes it does.

    Rioraton, I'm not aware of that particular research but I have noticed that extreme performances become more common following expansions.

14. Daniel Says:
    August 4th, 2010 at 3:44 pm

    @Matt:

    Make sure you're looking at the right column. The first column has # of games with home runs, while the seventh column has total home runs. (That caught me for a second.)

15. Kahuna Tuna Says:
    August 4th, 2010 at 4:08 pm

    To satisfy the curious . . . A-Rod's 2,267 games played ranks 110th all time.

16. DavidRF Says:
    August 4th, 2010 at 4:18 pm

    @15
    Yes. Not everyone on the list above played 2267 games. Gehrig, Gonzalez, Delgado and Snider all played less... maybe a few more.

17. NJBaseball Says:
    August 4th, 2010 at 7:50 pm

    Another perspective, taking into account Ruth's pitching ...

    Ruth's career started with four games in 1914 and he first played the OF in 1918 (59 games), with 20 on the mound. So from 1914-18, he played 261 games and hit just 20 home runs. By comparison, A-Rod, in his first 261 games, hit 48 HR.

    So, in a way, A-Rod had a head start in the first 261 games, then Ruth overtook him over the course of the next 2005 games.

18. BSK Says:
    August 4th, 2010 at 10:25 pm

    I think what would be most interesting is the number of ABs/PAs to get to X amount of HRs OR the most number of HRs in X number of ABs/PAs. While that doesn't give us much in terms of projection, since guys will hit a given number of ABs/PAs at different ages, it does tell us who did the most (at least in terms of HRs) in a fairly set amount of playing time, that isn't impacted by shortened seasons or games spent pitching and whatnot.

19. Johnny Twisto Says:
    August 4th, 2010 at 10:44 pm

    We await your results, BSK.

20. BSK Says:
    August 4th, 2010 at 11:01 pm

    Ah, if only I had a subscription... little help anyone???

21. Baggins Says:
    August 5th, 2010 at 12:00 am

    What's up with the hit and doubles totals in these results?

    I'm new to this, but those don't seem to add up?

22. Ryan Says:
    August 5th, 2010 at 7:01 am

    #21 Baggins:

    The numbers are from all the games where the player actually hit a home run. For instance, in Sosa's first 2267 games, he hit a home run in 520 games, with 595 total home runs (accounting for multiple home run games). The stats listed are the numbers from just those 520 games.

23. Frank Says:
    August 5th, 2010 at 11:26 am

    You may have someone approaching Ruth in stats -- but there will still never be another Bambino.

    But then, there will never be another A-Rod, either.

24. Frank Says:
    August 5th, 2010 at 11:37 am

    And, by the way; if A-Rod can be this productive still at 35, it hardly seems appropriate to sound the death knell on his career quite yet. I can think of quite a few Hall of Famers who were washed up before that -- or no longer among the living.

25. argman Says:
    August 5th, 2010 at 12:38 pm

    @9, @11 - Maybe the "sudden" increase in 500-homer club members in the 60's and 70's also had to do with these players careers not being interrupted by the war, their starting their ML careers younger, and also the extra 8 games per season after the expansion (although I'm not so sure about how significant that could be." Do you think it is possible that Greenberg, Dimaggio, Mize, and maybe some others, might have stuck around longer if they were close to 500 HRs?

26. argman Says:
    August 5th, 2010 at 12:43 pm

    This is kind of a tangent - but it is interesting (to me at least) to look at the HBP numbers. Seven players were hit at least 20 times in their HR games - ARod, Griffey, F. Robinson, Delgado, Bagwell, Giambi, and Galarraga. Six of the seven are from very recent years - when, supposedly, pitchers were reluctant to throw inside. This seems to put the lie to that contention, unless you think it is because batters these days tend to stand right over the plate.

27. Jack P Says:
    August 5th, 2010 at 5:00 pm

    I count 340 HRs by Bonds after his 35th birthday. Does Rodriguez have a shot at 900?

28. MikeD Says:
    August 5th, 2010 at 5:09 pm

    JackP, no, A-Rod doesn't have a shot at 900, or probably even 800. Considering he is now 35, had serious hip surgery last year, and his HR rate is at a record low for him this year, then I think the real question is can hit 700. I think he will, but unless he reverses the trend line (or more likely, slows the trend line), then his really productive days are now behind him. Is he still at guy who can hit 30 HRs a year? Is he now a 25 HR hitter? Will he be only a 20 HR hitter within a year or two? A-Rod is now at the point in his career where Bonds took off. A-Rod looks like he's about to trend in the other direction.