Aug. 17, 2007 - "Who is the Greatest homerun hitter of all-time? Part 4

“Who is the greatest homerun hitter of all-time?”

I have heard many people ask this question and I’ve also heard lots of different answers. Its understandable that there is some debate. There have been over 15,000+ players in the majors. Most people would answer either Babe Ruth, who had 712 homeruns, Hank Aaron, who had 755 homeruns, or Barry Bonds, who has the record with 758 (subject to change).

To answer this question, I’m not going to look at all 15,000+ players, just the 22 in the 500-homerun club and maybe a few below such as Lou Gehrig ans Stan Musial. I’m going to look at who is the greatest homerun hitter of all time –not the most consistent or fast.

So what about Gehrig and Musial? Lets start with Musial. Musial was a for-sure hall of famer with great power but was he the greatest? Musial played 22 seasons, all with the St. Louis Cardinals. Now in 22 seasons you can play a lot of games and if you play a lot of games, you can have a lot of at-bats, which Musial did. He had 10,972 at bats, 9th all-time. In those at-bats, he had a total 475 homeruns –which is not an incredible total but is very honorable. If you do the math, that’s a homerun in every 16.84 at bats, which again, is not incredible. So Musial isn’t the greatest but is a honorable hitter.

Now Gehrig is one of the most beloved players of all time. He was famous for his crowd recognition and having what is called “Lou Gehrig’s Disease” or other known as Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). But he was just as well known for playing 1st base for the New York Yankees along side Babe Ruth. He was defiantly a great homerun hitter as well. He hit 493 homeruns in 8,001 at-bats. Gerhig could have hit more homeruns if he had more at bats and he could have had more at-bats if he didn’t have to retire 2 days after his 36th birthday. Lets just say he did play 5 more seasons. He was still hitting 30 homeruns a season when he was healthy so lets just say he could have had 150 more homeruns, which is a total of 643 which would also be 5th on the all-time homerun list. So was ge the greatest? Its hard to say but he would be in the race. But sadly, he died when he was 37 and nobody really knows if he would have been able to hit those 150 homeruns so I can not say he is the greatest.

So who is? I don’t know yet but keep reading this month to find out. Next time I’ll look at the “BIG MAC” himself and break down stats and 1998 season.

K.B. is a reporter and founder of the IABW.

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