40-40 club
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The 40-40 club is a term coined by sportswriters to distinguish Major League Baseball players who accumulate a total of both 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in a single season.
Becoming a member of the 40-40 club is an elusive achievement in modern American baseball, as players who possess either the power to hit 40 home runs or the speed to steal 40 bases in a season are themselves rare. This remains true even as statistical trends change in baseball — stolen base totals in the 1980s were unusually high, but very few players reached 40 home runs; home run totals were extremely high in the late 1990s, but stolen bases became more rare as the steal was a sparingly used tactic.
Only four players in history have achieved the requisite numbers for the 40-40 club.
| Year | Player | Team | HR | SB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Jose Canseco | Oakland Athletics | 42 | 40 |
| 1996 | Barry Bonds | San Francisco Giants | 42 | 40 |
| 1998 | Alex Rodriguez | Seattle Mariners | 42 | 46 |
| 2006 | Alfonso Soriano | Washington Nationals | 46 | 41 |
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[edit] Near-misses
The first player to approach the mark was Ken Williams in 1922, with 39 home runs and 37 stolen bases, making him the first player to reach the 30-30 club. It would take another 30 years for anyone to approach the mark, as Willie Mays did in 1957 with 36 home runs and 40 stolen bases. Barry Bonds nearly had a second 40-40 season in 1997, hitting 40 home runs and stealing 37 bases. His father Bobby Bonds was one home run away from becoming the founding member of the club in 1973 with 39 home runs and 43 stolen bases. Eric Davis had a near-miss in 1987 when he stole 50 bases and hit 37 home runs (in only 129 games).
More recently, the 40-40 club nearly gained two new members in the same year. In 2002, Vladimir Guerrero of the Montreal Expos and Alfonso Soriano of the New York Yankees were each just one home run short, with 39 homers each and 40 and 41 stolen bases, respectively. In 2004, Carlos Beltran was two home runs shy as he hit 38 and collected 43 steals, splitting the season between the Kansas City Royals and Houston Astros.
[edit] 50-50 club
No player has ever hit 50 home runs and stolen 50 bases in the same season. Given the rarity of the 40-40 club, a player reaching the 50-50 mark would break new ground in baseball history and establish a new high-water mark for power/speed talent. Since the 50-home run season became more common in the late 1990s and early 21st century — variously due to improvements in physical training, smaller field dimensions the first part of the 50-50 plateau may be more easily attained. At the same time, stolen base totals are down leaguewide. As with most 30-30 and 40-40 seasons, a player would have to remain nearly injury-free during the year. Most such seasons have been attained with a minimum of 150 games played out of a typical 162-game schedule.
- No member of the 30-30 or 40-40 clubs hit 50 home runs in their club-joining seasons. (Larry Walker fell one short in 1997 with 49 homers.)
- Only Eric Davis (1987) and Barry Bonds (1990) stole at least 50 bases in their 30-30 seasons. (The player who has come closest to reaching 50-50 is Alex Rodriguez, noted above.)
- Barry Bonds and Brady Anderson are the only players to record both a 50-homer season and a 50-steal season during their careers. Bonds had 52 steals in 1990 and hit 73 homers in 2001. Anderson had 53 steals in 1992 and 50 home runs in 1996.
During the 2006 season, Alfonso Soriano of the Washington Nationals was briefly being discussed as a potential 50-50 club candidate.[1] After slugging 12 home runs in May, Soriano was on pace to top 50; however, his stolen base totals were never high enough to merit serious consideration.
[edit] Notes
- Members of the 40-40 club are already members of the 30-30 club.
- Although Bonds only made the 40-40 club once, he has had five 30-30 seasons, his longevity allowing him to become the founding and only member of the career 400-400 and 500-500 clubs.
- Rapper Jay-Z named his sports bar, The 40/40 Club, in Manhattan after this exclusive club.
- Alfonso Soriano also hit 40 doubles in the 2006 season, making him the first player to hit 40 home runs, hit 40 doubles, and steal 40 bases in the same season.
