50 Home Run Club

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In Major League Baseball, the 50 Home Run Club is an informal term applied to the group of players who have hit 50 or more home runs in a single season. The 50 Home Run Club was "founded" by Babe Ruth in 1920. At the time, he became the first player to hit not only 50 homeruns in a season, but 40 and 30 as well, breaking his own single season record of 29 from the 1919 season.

Mentioned less frequently are the 60 Home Run Club and the 70 Home Run Club, which have five and two members respectively. These "clubs" have become more populated since the 1998 season, which saw membership in the 60 Home Run Club double. That year, Mark McGwire became the founding member of the 70 Home Run Club when he set a new single-season record. He has since been surpassed by Barry Bonds, the only other member of the 70 Home Run Club.

[edit] The club

As of the 2006 season, there are 25 players who have hit 50 or more home runs in a single season, a total of 39 times:

Player	HR	Team	Season	Career HR
Babe Ruth	54	New York Yankees	1920^	714
Babe Ruth	59	New York Yankees	1921^
Babe Ruth	60	New York Yankees	1927^
Babe Ruth	54	New York Yankees	1928
Hack Wilson	56	Chicago Cubs	1930	244
Jimmie Foxx	58‡	Philadelphia Athletics	1932	534
Jimmie Foxx	50	Boston Red Sox	1938
Hank Greenberg	58‡	Detroit Tigers	1938	331
Johnny Mize	51	New York Giants	1947	359
Ralph Kiner	51	Pittsburgh Pirates	1947	369
Ralph Kiner	54‡	Pittsburgh Pirates	1949
Willie Mays	51	New York Giants	1955	660
Mickey Mantle	52	New York Yankees	1956	536
Mickey Mantle	54	New York Yankees	1961
Roger Maris	61‡	New York Yankees	1961^	275
Willie Mays	52	San Francisco Giants	1965
George Foster	52‡	Cincinnati Reds	1977	348
Cecil Fielder	51	Detroit Tigers	1990	319
Albert Belle	50	Cleveland Indians	1995	381
Brady Anderson	50‡	Baltimore Orioles	1996	210
Mark McGwire	52	Oakland Athletics	1996	583
Ken Griffey Jr.†	56‡	Seattle Mariners	1997	563
Mark McGwire	58	Oakland Athletics & St. Louis Cardinals	1997
Greg Vaughn	50‡	San Diego Padres	1998	355
Ken Griffey Jr.†	56‡	Seattle Mariners	1998
Sammy Sosa	66‡	Chicago Cubs	1998	588
Mark McGwire	70‡	St. Louis Cardinals	1998^
Sammy Sosa	63	Chicago Cubs	1999
Mark McGwire	65	St. Louis Cardinals	1999
Sammy Sosa	50	Chicago Cubs	2000
Alex Rodriguez†	52	Texas Rangers	2001	464
Luis Gonzalez†	57‡	Arizona Diamondbacks	2001	331
Sammy Sosa	64	Chicago Cubs	2001
Barry Bonds†	73‡	San Francisco Giants	2001	735
Jim Thome†	52‡	Cleveland Indians	2002	472
Alex Rodriguez†	57‡	Texas Rangers	2002
Andruw Jones†	51‡	Atlanta Braves	2005	342
Ryan Howard†	58‡	Philadelphia Phillies	2006	82
David Ortiz†	54‡	Boston Red Sox	2006	231

† indicates an active player.
‡ indicates a franchise record.
^ indicates previous single-season record.
Current single-season record in boldface.

[edit] Trivia

• Before 1990, only 11 players had hit 50 or more homers in a season, a total of 18 times in 70 years; only two of them — Ruth and Maris — had hit 60 or more. In the decade since 1995, 14 more players have joined the Club by hitting 50 or more homers 21 times; three players — Sosa, McGwire and Bonds — have hit 60 or more homers six times, two of whom have broken the 70+ home run plateau.
• The 8 seasons from 1995 through 2002 mark the longest stretch of consecutive seasons with at least one batter hitting 50-or-more home runs; 10 batters combined to hit a total of 1,051 home runs, reaching the 50 home run plateau 18 times. The second-longest stretches are the three pairs of consecutives seasons; 1920-1921 (both Ruth), 1927-1928 (both Ruth), and 2005-2006 (Jones, and Howard and Ortiz).
• Since the start of the live-ball era in the 1920s, the only decade which did not see a 50-homer season was the 1980s. Only one player — George Foster in 1977 — had a 50-homer season in the quarter-century between 1965 and 1990.
• Three notable members who joined this list since 1990 — Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGwire — have been embroiled in the ongoing steroids controversy[1][2][3][4][5]. This brings into question the legitimacy of their numbers [6].
• Fifteen of the 25 club members have hit 50+ homers only once.
• Among members of the 50-homer club, Brady Anderson's 1996 performance was probably the greatest deviation from his career numbers. His 1996 season was the only time in his career that he hit even 25 homers, and was one of only three seasons in which he hit as many as 20. Anderson's career home run total of 210 is the lowest of any member of the 50-homer club (except for Ryan Howard, who finished his second year in the majors in 2006).
• Eight members of the club are also members of the 500 home run club (Bonds, Ruth, Mays, Sosa, McGwire, Griffey, Mantle, and Foxx).
• Three members of the club (not including active players) have hit less than 300 career home runs (Anderson with 210; Wilson with 244; Maris with 275).
• Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Babe Ruth share the record for most 50+ homer seasons, with four each.
• McGwire also holds the record for most homers in two consecutive seasons with 135 (70 in 1998, 65 in 1999). In addition, he holds the record for homers in three (193 from 1997-99) and four consecutive seasons (245 from 1996-99).
• Ruth was the first player to hit 50 or more homers in two consecutive seasons (1920 and 1921). After Ruth hit 50 or more homers in consecutive seasons again in 1927 and 1928, this feat wouldn't be repeated again for nearly 70 years.
• McGwire was the first player to hit 50 or more homers in three consecutive seasons (1996, 1997 and 1998), as well as the first player to hit 50 or more homers in four consecutive seasons (1996-1999).
• Sosa was the first player to hit 50 or more homers in four consecutive seasons in the National League (1998-2001)
• McGwire and Sammy Sosa were the first players to hit 60 or more home runs in two consecutive season (1998 and 1999).
• Sosa was the first player to hit 60 or more home runs three times (1998, 1999 and 2001). Ironically, he did not lead the National League in homers in any of the three seasons; he was second to McGwire in both 1998 and 1999, and was second to Bonds in his record-breaking 2001 season.
• Bonds's record-breaking 2001 season was the only year in which Bonds hit 50 or more homers; similarly, Maris's record-breaking 1961 season was the only year in which Maris hit 40 or more homers.
• McGwire was the only player to hit 50 or more homers in a season during which he played for more than one team (Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals); he was also the only player to accomplish the feat in a season during which he played in both leagues.
• The New York Yankees hold the record with seven 50+ home run seasons (four by Ruth; two by Mantle; one by Maris), but have not had a player with 50-or-more home runs in 45 years. The Yankees and Giants also share the record with three different players who have hit 50-or-more home runs in a season (Ruth, Mantle, and Maris for New York; Mize, Mays, and Bonds for the Giants).
• The Arizona Diamondbacks were the youngest team to have a player hit 50-or-more home runs; they had been a National League franchise for only four years when Gonzalez hit 57 in 2001. Of the teams that have had a 50+ home run season, the Braves took the longest to have a player achieve the feat, at 130 years before Jones hit 51 in 2005; of American League teams with a 50+ home run season, the Baltimore Orioles took the longest at 96 years before Anderson hit 50 in 1996.
• 13 teams have never had a player hit 50-or-more home runs in a season; the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Chicago White Sox, the Minnesota Twins, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the New York Mets, the Houston Astros, the Kansas City Royals, the Washington Nationals, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Toronto Blue Jays, the Colorado Rockies, the Florida Marlins, and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Of those teams, the Dodgers are the oldest at 117 years, while the White Sox and the Twins are the oldest American League teams at 106 years each.
• 1938 was the first season in which two players each hit 50 or more homers (Foxx and Greenberg).
• 1998 was the first season in which two players each hit 60 or more homers (McGwire and Sosa).
• 1998 and 2001 share the record for the most players in a single season to hit 50 or more homers, with four batters each (Vaughn, Griffey, Sosa and McGwire in 1998; Rodriguez, Gonzalez, Sosa and Bonds in 2001).