Before the 2010 season began, there were only 300 times in Major League history where someone hit 40 or more home runs in a single season. Only 150 of those occurrences were accomplished by players who have not been inducted into the Hall of Fame; it only counts as 114 if you don’t include the times when Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro, and Jose Canseco reached that mark numerous times, and roughly 100 if you exclude everyone who has been linked with steroids.
124 games into the season, Major League Baseball added one more member to the 40+ Home Runs in One Season Club: Jose Bautista. He achieved the feat this past Monday after hitting two long bombs against the Yankees in a 3-2 Blue Jays victory.
With that being said, who would’ve thought that Jose Bautista, of all people, would be the first to tater 40 into the seats this season? The 40-home-run mark used to be a single season milestone for the Babe Ruths, the Willie Mayses, the Mickey Mantles, and the Hank Aarons of the world. Now that Jose Bautista has done it, along with several other people, we could probably think that any ol’ MLB player can do it.
Adam Dunn has done it five times in a row from 2004-2008, and he’s nowhere near as great as the players who have accomplished that feat.
(I was planning on writing this the day after Jose Bautista hit his 40th homer. However, now that he’s currently on pace to reach the 50-home-run mark, I thought, “What the heck… I’ll do it whenever.” Anyways… getting back on subject…)
Out of the thousands of players who have played the game, a total of 123 players have hit 40 home runs in a season, and 69 of those who are on that list are not in the Hall of Fame. It got me thinking about the Jose Bautistas of this semi-exclusive club.
We currently live in an era where people highly value the walk-off home run and giving away big bucks for a big bat. However, none of the all-time greats we think about ever appeared on the top 500 single-season strikeout list. Granted, if you pop 40 dingers in the Major Leagues, you’re worth something, but there are quite a few players who aren’t exactly what you would call a “great player”.
I keep thinking that “worst” is too strong of a word to describe these athletes, because most of these players are pretty good in their respective ways. But what other word can I use to describe a list like this?
But as long as you get my drift, here is the presentation of the five “worst” players to ever hit 40 home runs.