Last Updated on October 1, 2024 by Matt Musico
If you want to talk about domination, you may not have to look much further than the single-season Pirates home run leaders list. Seriously, though — the top 10 is made up of just three dudes. Three!
Ralph Kiner is listed more than the other two combined, and it shows just how dominant he was during his MLB career. Due to the lack of different names on the list, we’ve extended it to the top 27 so we can see who else hit a lot of home runs in a single season for the Pirates.
Related: A Complete Guide to Single-Season (& Single-Game) HR Performances
Single-Season Pirates Home Run Leaders: Top 13
Ralph Kiner
When you see someone is a Hall of Famer despite playing just 10 big-league seasons, you know they dominated during their short time in The Show. That’s exactly what happened to Kiner. He doesn’t just hold the Pirates’ single-season home run record, he completely overtakes the top of the leaderboard.
He led the league in homers during his first seven MLB seasons. The only time he finished with fewer than 20 homers was his final year in 1955 with Cleveland (he hit 18). Regarding Pirates history, six (!) of Kiner’s seasons in Pittsburgh are still within the top 15 of the franchise leaderboard. Five of them are in the top seven.
Here’s a quick rundown of them all (with his franchise rank in parenthesis):
- 54 homers in 1949 (first)
- 51 homers in 1947 (second)
- 47 homers in 1950 (fourth)
- 42 homers in 1951 (sixth)
- 40 homers in 1948 (seventh)
- 37 homers in 1952 (10th)
As we can see, Kiner enjoyed five straight campaigns of 40-plus homers from 1947 to 1951. Let’s take a second to marvel over the performance that towers over the rest, which was his 54-dinger output in 1949. Kiner also led the league with 127 RBI while slashing .310/.432/.658 in 667 plate appearances.
Although Kiner’s first-half OPS (1.095) was higher than his second-half OPS (1.084), he hit 31 of his home runs following the All-Star break. How did that happen? Well, he went off in August and September, hitting 27 combined home runs (11 in August, 16 in September). That final month had some crazy stats attached to it. The Hall of Famer added 33 RBI and a .330/.481/.870 line to all those dingers.
Willie Stargell
Willie Stargell is Pittsburgh’s all-time home run leader. He did that by being a consistent slugger throughout his big-league career. He suited up for 21 years — all with the Pirates — and slugged at least 20 homers 15 total times (including 13 in a row between 1964 and 1976). Stargell got himself over 30 on six occasions, but two instances stand out from the rest.
In 1971, he slugged 48 home runs, which is third all-time in Pirates history. Two years later in 1973, he got close to matching that number but settled for 44. Stargell didn’t hit more than 33 the four other times he surpassed the 30-homer plateau.
Stargell did the majority of his work in the first half, slashing .320/.396/.705 with 30 homers and 87 RBI before the All-Star break. Those numbers dropped to .265/.399/.535, 18, and 38, respectively, in the second half. There were only two months where Stargell surpassed 10 homers and 20 RBI during the ’71 campaign: April (11 homers, 27 RBI) and June (11 homers, 36 RBI). They were also the only times his OPS got up over 1.000.
Brian Giles
Brian Giles spent nearly five years with the Pirates, and they were the most powerful of his career. Not including 2003 when he went from the Pirates to the San Diego Padres, Giles enjoyed four seasons with at least 35 home runs. Three of those instances are still in Pittsburgh’s top 10: 39 homers in 1999, 38 homers in 2002, and 37 homers in 2001. The other one (35 dingers in 2000), you’ll see below.
How significant was Giles’ prime with the Buccos? Well, in years he didn’t spend the entire season with the club, he accumulated 20-plus homers just two other times: 20 in 2003 (split between San Diego and Pittsburgh) and 23 in 2004 (with San Diego). That’s it.
During the 1999 campaign, there were two specific pitch counts where Giles hit the majority of his home runs. The outfielder slugged eight dingers with a 1.145 OPS on the first pitch and another eight with a 1.465 OPS on 1-1 counts.
The 2002 Pirates finished 72-89, so if a player was going to rack up stats, they’d have to do it when the team was winning and losing. While Giles was more effective in wins (1.227), he was still pretty good in losses (.952). He also hit the same number of homers (19) in each situation.
Josh Bell: 37 Home Runs in 2019
Josh Bell finished third in the 2017 NL Rookie of the Year voting with 26 home runs and 90 RBI. It seemed as if 2019 would serve as his true breakout upon setting new career-high marks in homers (37) and RBI (116). The left-handed slugger has enjoyed some nice campaigns since ’19, which included winning a Siver Slugger Award in 2022. However, nothing has reached these heights in the power department since.
Bell was elected to the All-Star Game for the first (and as of early 2024, the only) time in 2019. In 388 plate appearances before the midsummer classic, Bell slashed .302/.376/.648 with 27 homers and 84 RBI. Over his final 225 trips to the plate, those numbers dropped to .233/.351/.429, 10, and 32, respectively.
Pedro Alvarez: 36 Home Runs in 2013
Pedro Alvarez was an All-Star, won a Silver Slugger, and reached the 100-RBI plateau once each during his nine-year MLB career. It all happened in 2013. This was his second straight 30-homer performance, but those 36 taters were a single-season career-high mark. He also shared the NL Home Run crown for the year with Paul Goldschmidt.
While PNC Park is one of baseball’s most beautiful stadiums, Alvarez preferred being a visiting player in 2013. In Pittsburgh, he posted a .695 OPS with 16 homers, seven doubles, and 50 RBI. On the road, those numbers jumped to .838, 20, 15, and 50, respectively.
Single-Season Pirates Home Run Leaders: The Rest
You might be wondering where one of the most popular Pirates players is on this list. Hitting lots of homers wasn’t necessarily Roberto Clemente’s calling card. The most he hit in a single regular season was 29, which happened in 1966. But with exactly 3,000 hits and a .317 career batting average, the two-time World Series champion made up for it in other areas. He also won four batting titles in seven years.
Some current Pirates players we might see at some point in the future? That’d include the likes of Ke’Bryan Hayes, Oneill Cruz, and Bryan Reynolds. But for now, here’s what the remainder of the Pirates’ top-27 single-season home run performances look like:
- Brian Giles, 2000: 35
- Jason Bay, 2006: 35
- Dick Stuart, 1961: 35
- Frank Thomas, 1958: 35
- Barry Bonds, 1992: 34
- Aramis Ramirez, 2001: 34
- Barry Bonds, 1990: 33
- Willie Stargell, 1966 and 1972: 33
- Jason Bay, 2005: 32
- Bobby Bonilla, 1990: 32
- Andrew McCutchen, 2012: 31
- Jason Thompson, 1982: 31
- Willie Stargell, 1970: 31
If you’re wondering which performances fall outside of the top 27, check out the rest of this list on FanGraphs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who holds the record for most home runs in a single season for the Pittsburgh Pirates?
Hall of Fame slugger Ralph Kiner is the Pirates’ single-season home run king. He slugged 54 home runs during the 1949 season.
Which Pittsburgh Pirates player hit the most home runs in a season during the 1990s?
Brian Giles hit the most home runs in a season during the 1990s when he slugged 39 homers during the 1999 campaign.
How many players in Pittsburgh Pirates history have hit 40 or more home runs in a single season?
Only two Pirates players have slugged 40-plus home runs in a season. It’s been done a total of seven times, though. Kiner did it five times and Willie Stargell did it twice.
Who were the top five Pittsburgh Pirates single-season home run leaders?
The Pirates’ top five single-season home run leaders consist of two players.
1. Ralph Kiner: 54 homers in 1949
2. Ralph Kiner: 51 homers in 1947
3. Willie Stargell: 48 homers in 1971
4. Ralph Kiner: 47 homers in 1950
5. Willie Stargell: 44 homers in 1973
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