The title “greatest home run hitters” is pretty ambiguous. Greatest is open to interpretation. Some believe that means the player(s) who accumulated the most. Some believe it to be those who produced consistently (think season average). Still, others may believe that means those who hit the longest homers. To clarify, I believe it is those players who hit homers in the highest percentage of plate appearances with one caveat. I took plate appearances and subtracted walks and hit by pitch. I did so because I only wanted to look at plate appearances where the hitter had the opportunity to swing (at strikes). To qualify players had to have 4,000 career plate appearances.
-
Albert Belle
- Teams: Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles
- Position: OF, DH
-
Mike Schmidt
- Teams: Philadelphia Phillies
- Position: 3B
-
Jose Canseco
- Teams: Oakland Athletics, Texas Rangers, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox
- Position: OF, DH
-
Jimmie Foxx
- Teams: Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies
- Position: 1B
-
Alex Rodriguez
- Teams: Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, New York Yankees
- Position: 3B, SS
-
Dave Kingman
- Teams: San Francisco Giants, New York Mets, San Diego Padres, California Angels, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Oakland Athletics
- Position: OF, 1B, DH
-
Juan Gonzalez
- Teams: Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Royals
- Position: OF, DH
-
Mickey Mantle
- Teams: New York Yankees
- Position: OF, 1B
-
Ryan Howard
- Teams: Philadelphia Phillies
- Position: 1B
-
Manny Ramirez
- Teams: Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago White Sox, Tampa Bay Rays
- Position: OF, DH
-
Adam Dunn
- Teams: Cincinnati Reds, Arizona Diamondbacks, Washington Nationals, Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics
- Position: OF, 1B, DH
-
Ted Williams
- Teams: Boston Red Sox
- Position: OF
-
Sammy Sosa
- Teams: Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, Baltimore Orioles
- Position: OF
-
Harmon Killebrew
- Teams: Washington Senators, Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Royals
- Position: 1B, 3B, OF
-
Ralph Kiner
- Teams: Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians
- Position: OF
-
Jim Thome
- Teams: Cleveland Indians, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesota Twins, Baltimore Orioles
- Position: 1B, DH, 3B
-
Giancarlo Stanton
- Teams: Miami Marlins
- Position: OF
-
Barry Bonds
- Teams: Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants
- Position: 3B
-
Babe Ruth
- Teams: Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Boston Braves
- Position: OF
-
Mark McGwire
- Teams: Oakland Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals
- Position: 1B
| # of Seasons | Career HR | Season High | Avg Season | PA/HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 381 | 50 | 32 | 15.59 |
| # of Seasons | Career HR | Season High | Avg Season | PA/HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | 548 | 48 | 30 | 15.47 |
| # of Seasons | Career HR | Season High | Avg Season | PA/HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | 462 | 46 | 27 | 15.45 |
| # of Seasons | Career HR | Season High | Avg Season | PA/HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | 534 | 58 | 27 | 15.37 |
| # of Seasons | Career HR | Season High | Avg Season | PA/HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | 696 | 57 | 32 | 15.36 |
| # of Seasons | Career HR | Season High | Avg Season | PA/HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 442 | 48 | 28 | 15.31 |
| # of Seasons | Career HR | Season High | Avg Season | PA/HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | 434 | 47 | 26 | 15.29 |
| # of Seasons | Career HR | Season High | Avg Season | PA/HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | 536 | 54 | 30 | 15.23 |
| # of Seasons | Career HR | Season High | Avg Season | PA/HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 382 | 58 | 29 | 15.09 |
| # of Seasons | Career HR | Season High | Avg Season | PA/HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | 555 | 45 | 29 | 15.02 |
| # of Seasons | Career HR | Season High | Avg Season | PA/HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 462 | 46 | 33 | 14.99 |
| # of Seasons | Career HR | Season High | Avg Season | PA/HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | 521 | 43 | 27 | 14.84 |
| # of Seasons | Career HR | Season High | Avg Season | PA/HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | 609 | 66 | 34 | 14.63 |
| # of Seasons | Career HR | Season High | Avg Season | PA/HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | 573 | 49 | 26 | 14.35 |
| # of Seasons | Career HR | Season High | Avg Season | PA/HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 369 | 54 | 37 | 14.15 |
| # of Seasons | Career HR | Season High | Avg Season | PA/HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | 612 | 52 | 28 | 13.88 |
| # of Seasons | Career HR | Season High | Avg Season | PA/HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 267 | 59 | 33 | 13.47 |
| # of Seasons | Career HR | Season High | Avg Season | PA/HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | 762 | 73 | 35 | 13.04 |
| # of Seasons | Career HR | Season High | Avg Season | PA/HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | 714 | 60 | 32 | 11.92 |
| # of Seasons | Career HR | Season High | Avg Season | PA/HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 583 | 70 | 36 | 10.75 |
The Baseball Scholar 
UMMMMM ……………….. WHERE IS HANK FRIGGIN AARON ON THIS ??!?
THE TOP 20 ALL TIME AND YOU DONT THINK HE SLOTS IN THERE SOMEWHERE?!? Hello?!
LikeLike
Rob, thanks for the comment. The paragraph preceding the list lays out the way the rankings were formed. This is essentially a list of the lowest home runs to plate appearances (really plate appearance minus walks minus hit by pitch) ratio. The only qualifying factor is the player needed to have more than 4,000 career plate appearances.
Based on that Hank Aaron’s career home runs per plate appearances (minus walks minus hit by pitch) ratio is 16.56 which ranks 36th all-time, right behind Albert Pujols and a tick above Willie Mays. Keep in mind that Aaron played 23 seasons accumulating 13,941 career plate appearances, 3rd most all-time. Only 3 other players on this list are in the top 50 in career plate appearances (Barry Bonds 9th, Alex Rodriguez 16th, & Babe Ruth 49th). Aaron hit a lot of home runs but he also had significantly more opportunities than almost any other player to ever play the game.
Could Aaron hit home runs, yes. At the height of his career was he among the best all-time, perhaps. But this list is meant to encompass a player’s entire career, not just his peak.
LikeLike