50 home run club

In Major League Baseball, the 50 home run club is an informal term applied to the group of players who have hit 50 or more home runs in a single season. The 50 Home Run Club was "founded" by Babe Ruth in 1920. At the time, he became the first player to hit not only 50 home runs in a season, but 40 and 30 as well, breaking his own single season record of 29 from the 1919 season.

Mentioned less frequently are the 60 Home Run Club and the 70 Home Run Club, which have five and two members respectively. These "clubs" have become more populated since the 1998 season, which saw membership in the 60 Home Run Club double. That year, Mark McGwire became the founding member of the 70 Home Run Club when he set a new single-season record. He has since been surpassed by Barry Bonds, the only other member of the 70 Home Run Club.

The Club

As of the 2008 season, 25 players have hit 50-or-more home runs in a single season, a total of 41 times.

Player	HR	Team	Season	Pos	Career	HoF
Babe Ruth	54	NYY	1920^	OF	714	1936
Babe Ruth (2)	59	NYY	1921^	OF	714	1936
Babe Ruth(3)	60	NYY	1927^	OF	714	1936
Babe Ruth (4)	54	NYY	1928	OF	714	1936
Hack Wilson	56	CHC	1930	OF	244	1979
Jimmie Foxx	58‡	PHA	1932	1B/3B	534	1951
Jimmie Foxx (2)	50	BOS	1938	1B	534	1951
Hank Greenberg	58‡	DET	1938	1B	331	1956
Johnny Mize	51	NYG	1947	1B	359	1981
Ralph Kiner	51	PIT	1947	OF	369	1975
Ralph Kiner (2)	54‡	PIT	1949	OF	369	1975
Willie Mays	51	NYG	1955	OF	660	1979
Mickey Mantle	52	NYY	1956	CF	536	1974
Mickey Mantle (2)	54	NYY	1961	CF	536	1974
Roger Maris	61‡	NYY	1961^	OF	275
Willie Mays (2)	52	SFG	1965	OF	660	1979
George Foster	52‡	CIN	1977	OF	348
Cecil Fielder	51	DET	1990	1B/DH	319
Albert Belle	50	CLE	1995	LF	381
Brady Anderson	50‡	BAL	1996	CF	210
Mark McGwire	52	OAK	1996	1B/DH	583
Ken Griffey, Jr.	56‡	SEA	1997	OF	630
Mark McGwire (2)	58	OAK/STL	1997	1B	583
Greg Vaughn	50‡	SDP	1998	LF/DH	355
Ken Griffey, Jr. (2)	56‡	SEA	1998	OF	630
Sammy Sosa	66‡	CHC	1998	OF	609
Mark McGwire (3)	70‡	STL	1998^	1B	583
Sammy Sosa (2)	63	CHC	1999	OF	609
Mark McGwire (4)	65	STL	1999	1B	583
Sammy Sosa (3)	50	CHC	2000	OF	609
Alex Rodriguez†	52	TEX	2001	SS	563
Luis Gonzalez	57‡	ARI	2001	LF	354
Sammy Sosa (4)	64	CHC	2001	RF	609
Barry Bonds	73‡	SFG	2001	LF	762
Jim Thome†	52‡	CLE	2002	1B/DH	541
Alex Rodriguez† (2)	57‡	TEX	2002	SS	563
Andruw Jones†	51‡	ATL	2005	CF	388
Ryan Howard†	58‡	PHI	2006	1B	222
David Ortiz†	54‡	BOS	2006	DH/1B	289
Alex Rodriguez† (3)	54	NYY	2007	3B	563
Prince Fielder†	50‡	MIL	2007	1B	168

† indicates an active player.
‡ indicates a franchise record.
^ indicates previous single-season record.

• Current single-season record in boldface.
• Career home run totals are as of through 2008.

The 60 home run tier

As of the 2008 season, five players have hit 60 or more home runs in a single season, a total of eight times:

Player	HR	Team	Season	Pos	Career	HoF
Babe Ruth	60	NYY	1927^	OF	714	1936
Roger Maris	61‡	NYY	1961^	OF	275
Sammy Sosa	66‡	CHC	1998	OF	609
Mark McGwire	70	STL	1998^	1B	583
Sammy Sosa (2)	63	CHC	1999	OF	609
Mark McGwire (2)	65	STL	1999	1B	583
Sammy Sosa (3)	64	CHC	2001	RF	609
Barry Bonds	73‡	SFG	2001	LF	762

The 70 home run tier

As of the 2010 season, only two players have hit 70 or more home runs in a single season, a total of two times:

Player	HR	Team	Season	Pos	Career
Mark McGwire	70‡	STL	1998^	1B	583
Barry Bonds	73‡	SFG	2001	LF	762

Notes on the Club

Steroids and the Club

Since the start of the live-ball era in the 1920s, the only decade which did not see a 50-homer season was the 1980s. Only one player — George Foster in 1977 — had a 50-homer season in the quarter-century between 1965 and 1990. Before 1990, only eleven players had hit 50 or more homers in a season, a total of 18 times in 70 years; only two of them — Ruth and Maris — had hit 60 or more. Since 1994, a period that has been called "the steroids era" by Dan Patrick and Neil Hayes, thirteen more players have joined the Club by hitting 50-or-more home runs 21 times.

Three players — Sosa, McGwire and Bonds — have hit 60 or more homers a total of six times, and two of them have broken the 70 home run plateau. The eight seasons from 1995 through 2002 mark the longest stretch of consecutive seasons with at least one batter hitting 50-or-more home runs; ten batters combined to hit a total of 1,051 home runs, reaching the 50 home run plateau 18 times. The second-longest stretch was the three seasons from 2005 through 2007 (Rodriguez, Jones, Howard and Ortiz, and Prince Fielder).

Four notable members who joined this list since 1990 — Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGwire — have been embroiled in the ongoing steroids controversy. This brings into question the legitimacy of their numbers . Bonds is the only member of the club named in Senator Mitchell's report on steroids in Major League Baseball. On January 11th, 2010, Mark McGuire admitted to the Associated Press that he used steroids for almost a decade of his career, including the year he broke Roger Maris' single-season home run record in 1998. Rodriguez and Sosa were both among the 104 who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. David Ortiz also tested positive but doesn't know what he tested positive for and claims to have been careless with the substances he was taking at the time.

Career years

Fifteen of the 24 club members have hit 50+ homers only once in their careers. Of them, Brady Anderson's 1996 performance was the greatest statistical deviation from his career numbers; `96 season was the only time in his career that he hit even 25 homers, and was one of only three seasons in which he hit as many as 20. Anderson's career home run total of 210 is the lowest of all retired members of the 50-homer club.

Bonds's record-breaking 2001 season was the only year in which Bonds hit 50 or more homers; similarly, Roger Maris's record-breaking 1961 season was the only year in which Maris hit 40 or more homers. Luis Gonzalez with 57 homers in 2001 had never hit more than 31 and the most he hit was 28 after 2001. Anderson and Gonzalez' single year accomplishments also fuel the steroid controversy. With his 51 homers in 1990, Cecil Fielder holds the single-season record for home runs without a stolen base.

Cross-membership

Ten members of the club are also members of the 500 home run club (Rodriguez, Bonds, Ruth, Mays, Sosa, Griffey, McGwire, Mantle, Foxx, and Thome), while Bonds, Ruth, Mays, Sosa and Griffey are five of the six members of the 600-homer club. Conversely, three retired members of the club have hit less than 300 career home runs: Anderson with 210, Wilson with 244, and Maris with 275. Hank Aaron, with the second most career home runs (755), is not a member of the 50 home run club, never having hit more than 47 home runs in a single season.

Ten players have won their League's Most Valuable Player award during the season in which they hit 50-or-more home runs: Foxx (1938), Mantle (1956), Maris (1961), Mays (1965), Foster (1977), Griffey (1997), Sosa (1998), Bonds (2001), Howard (2006), and Rodriguez (2007). No pair of MVP award winners have ever hit 50-or-more home runs in the same season, nor have consecutive MVPs in the same League. As no rookie has ever hit 50 home runs, no 50-home-run-hitter has ever won the Rookie of the Year award; the closest any rookie has come to hitting 50 was in 1987, when McGwire hit 49 (and was named AL Rookie of the Year).

Mickey Mantle is the only batter ever to have claimed a Triple Crown during his 50-home-run season, having led the American League with a .353 batting average and 130 RBI in 1956. That season, Mantle also claimed the rarer Major League Triple Crown, having led both leagues in all three statistical categories.

Four batters have hit 50-or-more home runs for a team that went on to win a world championship in the same season: Babe Ruth's New York Yankees won in 1927 and 1928, Mickey Mantle's Yankees won in 1956, while Mantle and Roger Maris's Yankees won in 1961, and Luis Gonzalez's Arizona Diamondbacks won in 2001. Albert Belle went to the World Series immediately following his 50-home run-season, though the Cleveland Indians lost to the Atlanta Braves in 1995.

Belle is also the only member of the Club to have hit 50-or-more doubles in the same season, creating a unique 50-50 Club by leading the American League (along with Edgar Martinez) with 52 doubles along with his 50 home runs in 1995.

Home run frequency

Ruth was the first batter to average fewer than nine at-bats per home run over a season, hitting his 54 home runs of the 1920 season in 457 at-bats for an average of 8.463. Seventy-eight years later, McGwire became the first batter to average fewer than eight AB/HR, hitting his 70 home runs of the 1998 season in 509 at-bats for an average of 7.2714. Three years later, Bonds became the first batter to average fewer than seven AB/HR, setting the Major League record by hitting his 73 home runs of the 2001 season in 476 at-bats for an average of 6.5205.

Ruth, McGwire and Bonds are the only batters in history to average fewer than nine AB/HR over a season, having done so nine times:

Nine or fewer at-bats per home run
Batter	Season	HR	AB	AB/HR
Babe Ruth	1920	54	457	8.4630
Babe Ruth	1927	60	540	9.0000
Mark McGwire	1996	52	423	8.1346
Mark McGwire	1998	70	509	7.2714
Mark McGwire	1999	65	521	8.0154
Barry Bonds	2001	73	476	6.5205
Barry Bonds	2002	46	403	8.7610
Barry Bonds	2003	45	390	8.6670
Barry Bonds	2004	45	373	8.2890

Multiple seasons

Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Babe Ruth share the record for most 50+ homer seasons, with four each:

Batters with four 50-home-run seasons
Batter	HR	Seasons	Team(s)
Babe Ruth	54 59 60 54	1920 1921 1927 1928	New York Yankees
Mark McGwire	52 58 70 65	1996 1997 1998 1999	Oakland Athletics Athletics/Cardinals St. Louis Cardinals
Sammy Sosa	66 63 50 64	1998 1999 2000 2001	Chicago Cubs

Additionally, all three players recorded a season in which they hit 49 home runs (Ruth in 1930; McGwire in 1987; Sosa in 2002), each falling one home run short of becoming the first player with five 50+ home run seasons. McGwire's 49 home run season was also his rookie season, and remains the rookie record, causing him to come up one longball shy of becoming the first rookie to hit 50 or more home runs. Sosa's 49-home-run season followed on the heels of his third 60 home run season, causing him to come up one longball shy of also becoming the first batter to hit 50-or-more home runs in five consecutive seasons.

McGwire also holds the record for most home runs in two consecutive seasons with 135 (70 in 1998, 65 in 1999), as well as the record for home runs in three (193 from 1997-99) and four consecutive seasons (245 from 1996-99). Sosa holds the record for most home runs in five consecutive seasons, with 292 from 1998 to 2002.

Babe Ruth was the first player to hit 50 or more home runs in two consecutive seasons, 1920 and 1921; Ruth later hit 50 or more homers in consecutive seasons again, in 1927 and 1928, after which the feat wouldn't be repeated for nearly 70 years. McGwire was the first player to hit 50 or more home runs in three consecutive seasons (1996, 1997 and 1998), as well as the first player to do so in four consecutive seasons (1996-1999), while Sosa was the first player to hit 50 or more home runs in four consecutive seasons in the National League, from 1998 to 2001.

Sosa was also the first batter to hit 60 or more home runs in two consecutive seasons (1998 and 1999); he beat McGwire to the accomplishment by eight days, having hit his 60th home run of the 1999 season on September 18 before McGwire hit his 60th on the 26th. Sosa became the first player to hit 60 or more home runs three times (1998, 1999 and 2001), and yet he ironically did not lead the National League in homers in any of those three seasons: he was second to McGwire in both '98 and '99, and was second to Bonds in his record-breaking '01 season. Sosa's 50-homer season in 2000, as well as his 49-homer season in 2002, did lead the National League.

The ten year span between Willie Mays's 51-homer season in 1955 and his 52-homer season in 1965 marks the longest stretch of time between 50-plus home run seasons by a single player Major League history.

International membership

Sosa, born in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, was the first batter from outside of the United States to hit 50-or-more home runs in a season. A total of three batters in the club have been born outside of the U.S.:

50 home run hitters born outside the United States
Batter	Born	HR	Year
Sammy Sosa	Dominican Republic	66 63 50 64	1998 1999 2000 2001
Andruw Jones	Curaçao	51	2005
David Ortiz	Dominican Republic	54	2006

Membership by position

Johnny Mize was the first infielder to hit 50-or-more home runs in a season; Alex Rodriguez is the first shortstop to record a 50-home-run season; Cecil Fielder is the first designated hitter to join the club, seventeen years after the creation of the position. To date, no second baseman, catcher or pitcher has hit 50-or-more home runs in a year:

Positions without a 50 home run hitter
Pos	Record	Batter(s)	Year
2b	42	Rogers Hornsby Davey Johnson	1922 1973
c	43	Javy Lopez	2003
p	9	Wes Ferrell	1931

Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx are the only members of the Club to have served as pitchers in a Major League game. Ruth leads all members of the Club with 94 career wins as a pitcher.

Ruth pitched four innings of one game in which he recorded a win as pitcher during the 1920 season in which he hit 54 home runs. He also pitched nine innings over two games, both of which he won as pitcher, during the 1921 season in which he hit 59 home runs.

Jimmie Foxx pitched one inning in relief in 1939, a season during which he hit an American League leading 35 home runs. He also pitched 22.2 innings over nine games in 1945, collecting one win during a season in which he hit seven home runs.

Cross-league membership

McGwire is the only player to hit 50-or-more homers in a season during which he played for more than one team, having been traded from the Oakland Athletics to the St. Louis Cardinals on 31 July 1997; he is also the only player to accomplish the feat in a season during which he played in both leagues. He, Jimmie Foxx, and Alex Rodriguez are the only players to have hit 50 homers in a season for more than one team:

Batters with a 50-home run season with more than one team
Batter	Team	HR	Year	Team	HR	Year
Jimmie Foxx	Philadelphia Athletics	58	1932	Boston Red Sox	50	1938
Mark McGwire	Oakland Athletics & St. Louis Cardinals				58	1997
	Oakland Athletics	52	1996	St. Louis Cardinals	70 65	1998 1999
Alex Rodriguez	Texas Rangers	52 57	2001 2002	New York Yankees	54	2007

Franchises by seasons

The New York Yankees hold the record with eight 50+ home run seasons:

New York Yankees 50 home run seasons
Player	HR	Season(s)
Babe Ruth	54 59 60 54	1920 1921 1927 1928^
Mickey Mantle	52 54	1956 1961
Roger Maris	61	1961
Alex Rodriguez	54	2007

Seasons by franchise

The New York Yankees also hold the record with four different 50+ home run hitters:

Membership by team
Franchise	Members	Seasons	Years
New York Yankees (4)	Babe Ruth Mickey Mantle Roger Maris Alex Rodriguez	1920, 1921, 1927, 1928 1956, 1961 1961 2007	8
New York/San Francisco Giants (3)	Johnny Mize Willie Mays Barry Bonds	1947 1955, 1965 2001	4
Chicago Cubs (2)	Hack Wilson Sammy Sosa	1930 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001	5
Philadelphia/Kansas City/ Oakland Athletics (2)	Jimmie Foxx Mark McGwire	1932 1996	2
Boston Red Sox (2)	Jimmie Foxx David Ortiz	1938 2006	2
Detroit Tigers (2)	Hank Greenberg Cecil Fielder	1938 1990	2
Cleveland Indians (2)	Albert Belle Jim Thome	1995 2002	2
Pittsburgh Pirates (1)	Ralph Kiner	1947, 1949	2
Seattle Mariners (1)	Ken Griffey, Jr.	1997, 1998	2
St. Louis Cardinals (1)	Mark McGwire	1998, 1999	2
Texas Rangers (1)	Alex Rodriguez	2001, 2002	2
Cincinnati Reds (1)	George Foster	1977	1
Baltimore Orioles (1)	Brady Anderson	1996	1
San Diego Padres (1)	Greg Vaughn	1998	1
Arizona Diamondbacks (1)	Luis Gonzalez	2001	1
Atlanta Braves (1)	Andruw Jones	2005	1
Philadelphia Phillies (1)	Ryan Howard	2006	1
Milwaukee Brewers (1)	Prince Fielder	2007	1

Batters by season

The 1938 season was the first in which two players — Foxx and Greenberg — each hit 50 or more homers. Over the next half century, two players hit 50-or-more home runs in the same season four more times: Mize and Kiner in 1947, Mantle and Maris in 1961, Anderson and McGwire in 1996, and Griffey and McGwire in 1997.

The 1998 season was the first in which two players — Sosa and McGwire — each hit 60 or more homers. Over the next three years, two players hit 60-or-more home runs in the same season twice more: Sosa and McGwire again in 1999, and Sosa and Bonds in 2001.

The 1998 and 2001 seasons share the record for the most players in a year to hit 50-or-more homers, with four batters each:

Seasons with four 50+ home run hitters
1998		2001
Batter	HR	Batter	HR
Greg Vaughn	50	Alex Rodriguez	52
Ken Griffey, Jr.	56	Luis Gonzalez	57
Sammy Sosa	66	Sammy Sosa	64
Mark McGwire	70	Barry Bonds	73

Age and family

Prince Fielder is the youngest player to reach the mark, hitting his 50th home run of the 2007 season at the age of 23; along with Cecil Fielder, the two are the only father-son duo to each hit 50 home runs in a season. Bonds is the oldest player to reach the mark, hitting his single-season record 73 home runs at the age of 37; along with Willie Mays, the two are the only godfather-godson duo to each hit 50 home runs in a season.

Father-and-son home run hitters
Family	Father	High HR	Year	Son	High HR	Year
Fielder	Cecil	51	1990	Prince	50	2007
Griffey	Ken Sr.	21	1986	Ken Jr.	56	1997, 1998
Bonds	Bobby	39	1973	Barry	73	2001

Franchise by age

The Arizona Diamondbacks were the youngest team to have a player hit 50-or-more home runs; they had been a National League franchise for only four years when Gonzalez hit 57 in 2001. Of the teams that have had a 50+ home run season, the Braves took the longest to have a player achieve the feat, at 130 years before Jones hit 51 in 2005; of American League teams with a 50+ home run season, the Baltimore Orioles took the longest at 96 years before Anderson hit 50 in 1996.

Twelve teams have never had a player hit 50-or-more home runs in a season:

Major League teams without a 50 home run season
Team	Age	Record	Batter	Year
Los Angeles Dodgers	118 yrs	49	Shawn Green	2001
Chicago White Sox	108 yrs	49	Albert Belle	1998
Minnesota Twins	108 yrs	49	Harmon Killebrew	1964 1969
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	48 yrs	47	Troy Glaus	2000
Houston Astros	47 yrs	47	Jeff Bagwell	2000
New York Mets	47 yrs	41	Todd Hundley Carlos Beltran	1996 2006
Kansas City Royals	40 yrs	36	Steve Balboni	1985
Washington Nationals	40 yrs	46	Alfonso Soriano	2006
Toronto Blue Jays	32 yrs	47	George Bell	1987
Colorado Rockies	16 yrs	49	Larry Walker Todd Helton	1997 2001
Florida Marlins	16 yrs	42	Gary Sheffield	1996
Tampa Bay Rays	11 yrs	46	Carlos Peña	2007

The All-Star Break

Thirteen 50-home run seasons by ten batters, including three 60-home run seasons and both 70-home run seasons, have come as a result of a batter hitting 30-or-more home runs prior to the All-Star Break:

50 home run seasons with 30 before All-Star Break
Batter	Year	HR	Pre	Post
Roger Maris	1961	61	33	28
Brady Anderson	1996	50	30	20
Mark McGwire	1997	58	31	27
Ken Griffey, Jr.	1997	56	30	26
Mark McGwire (2)	1998	70	37	33
Ken Griffey, Jr. (2)	1998	56	35	21
Sammy Sosa	1998	66	33	33
Greg Vaughn	1998	50	30	20
Sammy Sosa (2)	1999	63	32	31
Barry Bonds	2001	73	39	34
Luis Gonzalez	2001	57	35	22
David Ortiz	2006	54	31	23
Alex Rodriguez	2007	54	30	24