The 40–40 club is a baseball term for players who have accumulated a total of 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in a single season, similar to the much more common 30–30 club.
Becoming a member of the 40–40 club is an elusive achievement in modern American baseball, as players who possess the power to hit 40 home runs and the speed to steal 40 bases in a season are rare. Generally a player gifted with the strength to hit 40 will not have nearly the speed needed to steal 40 bases, and vice versa. 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 professional players have achieved the requisite numbers for the 40–40 club, and none have done so more than once. Canseco, Bonds, and Rodriguez have since been linked to the use of performance enhancing drugs.
| Year | Player | Team | HR | SB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | José 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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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 else to approach the mark, as Willie Mays did in 1957 with 36 home runs and 40 stolen bases. 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, but failed to hit a home run in any of the final twenty-one games of the season.
After Canseco became the first member of the club, Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle was quoted as saying, "Hell, If I'd known 40-40 was going to be a big deal, I'd have done it every year!"[1]
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. In 2011, Matt Kemp came up one home run shy, as he hit 39 and stole 40 bases. Kemp accomplished this in only 161 games, as the Dodgers had the second game of a doubleheader on September 8 against the Nationals cancelled and not rescheduled.[2]
Given the rarity of the 40–40 club, a player reaching the 50–50 mark in home runs and stolen bases 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, improvements in swing mechanics, expansion, and the use of 5th starters — 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.
The phrase "50–50 club" can also refer to two combinations which have been achieved:
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