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500 Home Run Club Members Were Real Homers! |
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Written by Jim Rednour
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Monday, 31 August 2009 |
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While the 25 members of The 500 Home Run Club® are among the best known and beloved baseball players around the globe, most would agree with Dorothy’s famous proclamation in The Wizard of Oz: “There’s No Place Like Home."
In fact, the majority of our 500 HRC royalty, including current
sluggers like “A-Rod,” “The Kid” Ken Griffey, Jr., and “Man Ram” Manny
Ramirez, and all-time greats like Hammerin’ Hank Aaron, “Mr. Cub” Ernie
Banks, “The Beast” Jimmie Foxx and “The Killer” Harmon Killebrew hit
more than half of their career dingers with the benefit of home cooking
and a friendly hometown crowd.
Editor’s Note: The 500 Home
Run Club member with the highest “at home” percentage is Mel Ott who
hit 323 (or 63%) of his 511 career long balls at home in the Polo
Grounds of the NY Giants.
While others liked to silence crowds
in the ballparks they visited with titanic blasts that took the wind
out of opposing fans and swung the momentum back to their own teams.
It’s interesting to note that, despite old Yankees Stadium being  known
as “The House That Ruth Built,” The “Sultan of Swat” was among the
all-time slugging greats who actually hit more long balls on the road.
Others
included “Mr. October” Reggie Jackson, who always came up big in the
biggest games, and “Big Mac” Mark McGwire who, after calling St Louis’
Busch Stadium his home field for much of this career, took advantage of
every at-bat in smaller ballparks with prevailing winds.
Following is an alphabetical listing 500 HRC members’ home/road home run stats.
| Name |
Career |
At Home |
On Road |
| Hank Aaron |
755 |
385 |
370 |
| Ernie Banks |
512 |
290 |
222 |
| Barry Bonds |
762 |
379 |
383 |
| Jimmie Foxx |
534 |
299 |
235 |
| Ken Griffey, Jr. |
623 |
326 |
297 |
| Reggie Jackson |
563 |
280 |
283 |
| Harmon Killebrew |
573 |
291 |
282 |
| Willie Mays |
660 |
335 |
325 |
| Mickey Mantle |
536 |
266 |
270 |
| Eddie Mathews |
512 |
238 |
274 |
| Willie McCovey |
521 |
264 |
257 |
| Mark McGwire |
583 |
284 |
299 |
| Eddie Murray |
504 |
243 |
261 |
| Mel Ott |
511 |
323 |
188 |
| Rafael Palmeiro |
569 |
310 |
259 |
| Manny Ramirez |
540 |
273 |
267 |
| Frank Robinson |
586 |
321 |
265 |
| Alex Rodriguez |
574 |
295 |
279 |
| Babe Ruth |
714 |
347 |
367 |
| Mike Schmidt |
548 |
265 |
283 |
| Gary Sheffield |
509 |
262 |
247 |
| Sammy Sosa |
609 |
321 |
288 |
| Frank Thomas |
521 |
312 |
209 |
| Jim Thome |
563 |
313 |
250 |
| Ted Williams |
521 |
248 |
273 | |
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