500HRC® Members Cranked ‘Em At Crunch Time |
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Written by Jim Rednour
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Saturday, 31 October 2009 |
Five of the Top 10 greatest post-season sluggers in MLB history are members of The 500 Home Run Club®.
The reigning prince of the post-season longball, Manny Ramirez, padded
his play-off stats by slamming one into the cheap seats during this
year’s NLCS versus the Phillies. “Man Ram” now has 29 post-season
dingers (seven ahead of the next nearest power-hitter on the all-time
list below) and a .285 batting average in his 410 post-season at bats.
In addition to holding the all time post-season HR mark, Ramirez
is tied with Pete Rose for the longest hitting streak (15) in the
history of League Championship Series play.
"Mr. October" Reggie
Jackson always seemed to save his best play for the post-season. On
October 18, 1977, Jackson hit three homers on three consecutive swings
off three different Los Angeles pitchers in the sixth and deciding game
of the Fall Classic. Only one other player - fellow 500HRC member Babe
Ruth - has ever hit three balls into the stands during a single World
Series game. In the 1978 Series, Jackson picked up where he left off in
1977, homering in the first game to give him six round-trippers in four
consecutive WS games (another record) and in the sixth game to give him
seven in back-to-back Series (still another record).
Although
Manny has the most post-season homers by far, he does not own the best
percentage for MLB post-season home runs per at bat. That honor goes
to “The Bambino” Babe Ruth who hit the ball out of the playing field
approximately one out of every 11 times he stepped up to the plate in
post-season play. The only other player who hit home runs at a more
prolific rate during post-season play is Ramirez’s teammate on the
1993-2000 Phillies and the 2009 Dodgers – Jim Thome.
Top 10 Post-Season Home Run Producers
Ranking |
Player |
HR |
At Bats |
Homers Per At Bat* |
1. |
Manny Ramirez |
29 |
410 |
14.14 |
2. |
Bernie Williams |
22 |
545 |
24.77 |
3. |
Derek Jeter |
20 |
604 |
30.20 |
4. |
Reggie Jackson |
18 |
318 |
17.66 |
5. |
Mickey Mantle |
18 |
273 |
15.16 |
6. |
Jim Thome |
17 |
238 |
14.00 |
7. |
Babe Ruth |
15 |
167 |
11.13 |
8. |
David Justice |
14 |
471 |
33.64 |
9. |
Chipper Jones |
13 |
412 |
31.69 |
10. |
Jim Edmonds |
13 |
263 |
20.23 |
(* Minimum of 100 post-season at bats) |