They say records are meant to be broken, but some take a lot longer to break than others.
And when we’re talking about franchise single-season home run records, two in particular stick out above the rest. I won’t keep you in suspense, though. The two oldest single-season home run records heading into the 2026 season are as follows:
- Athletics: Jimmie Foxx, 58 home runs in 1932
- Detroit Tigers: Hank Greenberg, 58 home runs in 1938
Before getting into the details about these two records, let’s wrap our arms around why it’s so impressive that these still haven’t been surpassed.
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A Review of Franchise Single-Season Home Run Records
If you’d like to get a deep dive into each team’s current single-season home run king, you can head over to here. But for the sake of today, here’s a quick rundown of the current leader for each team:
- Arizona Diamondbacks: Luis Gonzalez, 57 in 2001
- Atlanta Braves: Matt Olson, 54 in 2023
- Baltimore Orioles: Chris Davis, 53 in 2013
- Boston Red Sox: David Ortiz, 54 in 2006
- Chicago White Sox: Albert Belle, 49 in 1998
- Chicago Cubs: Sammy Sosa, 66 in 1998
- Cincinnati Reds: George Foster, 52 in 1977
- Cleveland Guardians: Jim Thome, 52 in 2002
- Colorado Rockies: Larry Walker (1997) & Todd Helton (2001), 49
- Detroit Tigers: Hank Greenberg, 58 in 1938
- Houston Astros: Jeff Bagwell, 47 in 2000
- Kansas City Royals: Jorge Soler (2019) & Salvador Perez (2021), 48
- Los Angeles Angels: Troy Glaus, 47 in 2000
- Los Angeles Dodgers: Shohei Ohtani, 55 in 2025
- Miami Marlins: Giancarlo Stanton, 59 in 2017
- Milwaukee Brewers: Prince Fielder, 50 in 2007
- Minnesota Twins: Harmon Killebrew, 49 in 1969 and 1964
- New York Yankees: Aaron Judge, 62 in 2022
- New York Mets: Pete Alonso, 53 in 2019
- Athletics: Jimmie Foxx, 58 in 1932
- Philadelphia Phillies: Ryan Howard, 58 in 2006
- Pittsburgh Pirates: Ralph Kiner, 54 in 1949
- San Diego Padres: Greg Vaughn, 50 in 1998
- San Francisco Giants: Barry Bonds, 73 in 2001
- Seattle Mariners: Cal Raleigh, 60 in 2025
- St. Louis Cardinals: Mark McGwire, 70 in 1998
- Tampa Bay Rays: Carlos Peña, 46 in 2007
- Texas Rangers: Alex Rodriguez, 57 in 2002
- Toronto Blue Jays: Jose Bautista, 54 in 2010
- Washington Nationals: Alfonso Soriano, 46 in 2006
Of the players listed above, 22 of them put together their noteworthy performance in 2000 or later. Another five did it during the 1990s, so that leaves just five dudes who set their franchise’s single-season home run record before 1990.
If we take out George Foster (1977) and Harmon Killebrew (1964 and 1969) from that small group, Greenberg (1938) and Foxx (1932) are joined by Ralph Kiner (1949) as the only sluggers to do it before 1950.
Now, that’s what you call an exclusive club.
How Greenberg and Foxx Reached Their Historic Numbers
Greenberg’s yearly home run progression heading into ‘38 is eye-popping. He went from hitting 12 in 1933 to 26 in 1934 and 36 in 1935. The slugger hit 40 in ‘37 before reaching 58 the following season.
He was already having a powerful year heading into the 1938 All-Star break, slashing .294/.425/.620 with 22 home runs and 48 RBI in 314 plate appearances. But what he did in just 367 plate appearances following the break was unreal. He slashed .332/.449/.738 with 36 (!) homers and 99 (!!) RBI.
Foxx unsurprisingly led the league in homers during the 1932 season. His 169 RBI and 151 runs scored were also at the top of both of those leaderboards during his first career MVP Award performance.
Double X never posted a month with an OPS lower than 1.100, and he slugged at least 10 homers in four of the season’s six months. Three of these months came consecutively in May (13), June (12), and July (12). He also collected at least 35 RBI in each.
What’s Made These Records So Hard to Break?
It’s not just that Greenberg and Foxx are at the top of their respective teams’ single-season home run leaderboards. It’s the sheer number of homers they hit in the process.
While we’ve seen it quite often in recent years, hitting 50-plus homers in a season is a rare feat. It’s only been done 54 times throughout baseball’s long history. And when you get to 58-plus homers? Things get even more rare.
There have only been 12 seasons of at least 59 homers in baseball history, and only 10 of those occurrences have happened since Greenberg’s 1938 performance:
- Barry Bonds, 2001: 73 Home Runs
- Mark McGwire, 1998: 70 Homers
- Sammy Sosa, 1998: 66 Homers
- Mark McGwire, 1999: 65 Home Runs
- Sammy Sosa, 2001: 64 Homers
- Sammy Sosa, 1999: 63 Homers
- Aaron Judge, 2022: 62 Home Runs
- Roger Maris, 1961: 61 Home Runs
- Cal Raleigh, 2025: 60 Home Runs
- Babe Ruth, 1927: 60 Homers
- Babe Ruth (1921), Giancarlo Stanton (2017): 59 Home Runs
I wouldn’t necessarily say these records are unbreakable for Detroit and the Athletics, but it’s going to take a generational performance for someone to overtake them. Kind of like what Cal Raleigh did in 2025 for the Mariners to pass Ken Griffey’s long-standing record of 56 homers (which he set in 1997 and tied himself in 1998).
There are still some variables we don’t know about that could be in play, too. We know Comerica is not as friendly to home run hitters, but what kind of offensive environment will the Athletics’ new ballpark in Las Vegas be like? But then again, that can only help a player so much.
If you had to pick one of these records to fall first, which one would it be: the Tigers or the Athletics?
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