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single season home runs

Single Season Home Runs: A Complete Guide

This is the ultimate guide for single season home runs of all kinds in MLB (as well as single-game feats).

There is plenty of content to enjoy. As I continue adding to the site, the appropriate subjects will be highlighted below.

Want to get dingers sent straight to your inbox three times per week? Of course you do. Join a growing community of home-run appreciators by signing up for my Substack below. 

Single Season Home Runs: A Complete Guide

Who Holds the Record for Most Home Runs in a Single Season?

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Barry Bonds has hit the most home runs in a season (even if some people want to put an asterisk next to his name). He hit 73 home runs in 2001, surpassing the 70 that Mark McGwire hit in 1998. Aaron Judge is the American League home run record holder thanks to hitting 62 homers in 2022. He surpassed fellow Yankee Roger Maris, who slugged 61 dingers in 1961.

READ: Top 50 Most Home Runs in a Season in MLB History

Who Has the Most Home Runs By a Switch Hitter in a Season?

New York Yankees slugger Mickey Mantle holds the single-season home run record for switch hitters in 1961. While he lost the chase for 60 dingers to Roger Maris, his 54 taters are still at the top of this specific leaderboard. He shows up two more times in the top 10, as well.

READ: Top 25 Most Home Runs By a Switch Hitter in a Season

The Most Home Runs in a Season by a Team

With all the opportunities there are for a team to hit home runs, can you believe there’s a tie atop the single-season team home run leaderboard? The 2023 Atlanta Braves and 2019 Minnesota Twins share the record with 307 home runs each. Only one other team has hit more than 300 home runs in a season as a team. That would be the 2019 New York Yankees.

READ: Top 32 Most Home Runs in a Season by a Team

Single-Season Home Run Leaders for Each MLB Team

While the players at the top of the single-season home run leaderboard have distinguished themselves from everyone else, there is more home run royalty than that. Each team has a single-season home run king, and it’s an interesting group of dudes.

You might also be interested in seeing a leaderboard for each team. Lucky for you, I have that available! Click on any team below and you’ll be taken to their single-season home run leaderboard, complete with some videos and lots of context around some of the most powerful seasons within each organization. (I try to update blog posts as much as possible. Each one goes through a full update at the end of every regular season.)

Players With the Most Home Runs in a Season by Position

Why simply stop at single-season home run leaders when we can also break it down by position? Exactly what I was thinking. As you can imagine, the single-season home run leaders at each spot of the diamond are a who’s who of incredible season-long performances.

I’ve also created a positional home run leaderboard for each team, which can be viewed below. (I also try to keep them updated as much as possible. These get a full update at the end of each season, too.)

Want to get dingers sent straight to your inbox three times per week? Of course you do. Join a growing community of home-run appreciators by signing up for my Substack below. 

The Most Home Runs by a Rookie

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Mark McGwire set a record for the most home runs hit by a rookie in 1987 when he slugged 49 dingers for the Oakland Athletics. That mark stood the test of time – 30 years to be exact – before Aaron Judge broke it in 2017 with 52 dingers. He only held onto that honor for two seasons before Pete Alonso broke it with 53 homers in 2019.

But – can you see a theme happening here? – these aren’t the only guys who have produced a powerful rookie season. I also went into detail on the rookie home run record for every MLB team.

Who Has The Most 40 Home Run Seasons in a Career?

Five players in MLB history have slugged 40-plus homers in a season at least eight times. You might’ve heard of them: Babe Ruth, Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Harmon Killebrew, and Hank Aaron.

Ruth is the only player with more than eight such seasons. He did it 11 times, because of course he did.

READ: 40 Home Run Seasons: A Look at 367 Occurrences, Team-by-Team

How Many 40-40 Players Are There in MLB History?

Jose Canseco founded the 40-40 club in 1988 when he slugged 42 homers and stole 40 bases. Until the start of 2023, this club featured just four members (Canseco, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Alfonso Soriano).

That group has since expanded to six, with Ronald Acuña Jr. and Shohei Ohtani joining. Ohtani gets a couple of special designations, though. He’s the fastest player to join the 40-40 club and is the founding member of the 50-50 club.

READ: MLB’s 40-40 Club: Every Season of 40 Home Runs & 40 Stolen Bases

The Most Consecutive Games With a Home Run

When it comes to having the most consecutive games with a home run, there’s a three-way tie at eight games. Dale Long of the Pittsburgh Pirates was the first to do it in 1956. He’s since been joined by Don Mattingly in 1987 and Ken Griffey Jr. in 1993.

READ: Top 36 Most Consecutive Games With a Home Run

The Most Home Runs in a Game By a Team

The record for the most home runs in a game by a team is 10. It was accomplished by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1987. But what about every other team? I uncovered each organization’s single-game team home run record and ranked them by the number of dingers hit.

READ: Most Home Runs in a Game for Every MLB Team, Ranked

How Many Players Have Hit 4 Home Runs in a Game?

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There have been 18 different players to hit four home runs in a game in MLB history. This is a feat that hasn’t occurred in a big-league game in quite some time, though.

Josh Hamilton was the last AL player to do it. He accomplished the feat for the Texas Rangers on May 8, 2012. It hasn’t happened in the NL since 2017, when it happened twice. Scooter Gennett slugged four in a game for the Cincinnati Reds on June 6. J.D. Martinez did it for the Arizona Diamondbacks on September 4.

READ: 18 MLB Players Who Have Hit 4 Home Runs in a Game

What is the MLB Record for Most 3 Home Run Games?

We have a three-way tie for most three-homer games in MLB history. It’s shared by Mookie Betts, Sammy Sosa, and Johnny Mize. They’ve each hit three homers in a game on six different occasions.

Five other guys have done it five times: Alex Rodriguez, Carlos Delgado, Mark McGwire, Joe Carter, and Dave Kingman.

READ: 3 Home Runs in a Game: Each MLB Team’s Most Recent Occurrence

Who Has Hit the Longest Home Run Ever?

While guys like Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle should be mentioned when talking about the longest home run ever, I’m going to keep the answer refined to the longest verified home run ever. That would belong to Joey Meyer, who hit a 582-foot blast in Triple-A on June 3, 1987.

I have plenty of “longest home run” content on the blog that you can enjoy:

And in case you’re thinking about the other insights…

A Complete List of the Most Home Runs Before the All-Star Break

Unsurprisingly, Barry Bonds holds the record for the most home runs before the All-Star break. He slugged 39 dingers before the 2001 midsummer classic on his way to hitting 73. There have been 43 different instances of a slugger reaching the 30-homer plateau by the All-Star Game.

READ: Top 43 Most Home Runs Before The All-Star Break

Who Has Hit the Most Leadoff Home Runs in a Season?

Kyle Schwarber has hit the most leadoff home runs in a season in MLB history. Just like everyone would’ve expected, right? He’s hit 14 leadoff taters for the Philadelphia Phillies in 2024. He overtook Alfonso Soriano for the top spot. He hit 13 leadoff homers for the New York Yankees in 2003.

Speaking of Schwarber, we’ve been chronicling his leadoff dingers since he started launching them in Chicago with the Cubs.

READ: Top 30 Most Leadoff Home Runs in a Season

Which Players Have Led Their Team in Home Runs?

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I love giving attention to each team’s home run royalty. So you knew I’d make it a yearly exercise to see which players have earned each team’s single-season home run crown:

Players Who Have Racked Up 40 Homers & 200 Hits in a Season

There have been 24 players who have enjoyed 200-plus hits and at least 40 homers in a season. Four of them have reached that 200-hit plateau with 50-plus homers: Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Hack Wilson, and Alex Rodriguez.

READ: 200 Hits and 40 HR Season: Who Is in This Elite Club?

2024 Individual Player Home Run Trackers

There are a few players who I keep tabs on regarding their power production throughout the season. Here are the home run trackers I’ve been keeping updated in 2024:

Want to get dingers sent straight to your inbox three times per week? Of course you do. Join a growing community of home-run appreciators by signing up for my Substack below. 

Which Home Run Hitter Are You?

Take a six-question quiz and see which current slugger matches your personality!

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