The Baseball Scholar

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.

1. Albert Belle



• Teams: Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles
• Position: OF, DH

Albert Belle

# of Seasons	Career HR	Season High	Avg Season	PA/HR
12	381	50	32	15.59

---

2. Mike Schmidt



• Teams: Philadelphia Phillies
• Position: 3B

Mike Schmidt

# of Seasons	Career HR	Season High	Avg Season	PA/HR
18	548	48	30	15.47

---

3. 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

Jose Canseco

# of Seasons	Career HR	Season High	Avg Season	PA/HR
17	462	46	27	15.45

---

4. Jimmie Foxx



• Teams: Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies
• Position: 1B

Jimmie Foxx

# of Seasons	Career HR	Season High	Avg Season	PA/HR
20	534	58	27	15.37

---

5. Alex Rodriguez



• Teams: Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, New York Yankees
• Position: 3B, SS

Alex Rodriguez

# of Seasons	Career HR	Season High	Avg Season	PA/HR
22	696	57	32	15.36

---

6. 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

Dave Kingman

# of Seasons	Career HR	Season High	Avg Season	PA/HR
16	442	48	28	15.31

---

7. Juan Gonzalez



• Teams: Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Royals
• Position: OF, DH

Juan Gonzalez

# of Seasons	Career HR	Season High	Avg Season	PA/HR
17	434	47	26	15.29

---

8. Mickey Mantle



• Teams: New York Yankees
• Position: OF, 1B

Mickey Mantle

# of Seasons	Career HR	Season High	Avg Season	PA/HR
18	536	54	30	15.23

---

9. Ryan Howard



• Teams: Philadelphia Phillies
• Position: 1B

Ryan Howard

# of Seasons	Career HR	Season High	Avg Season	PA/HR
13	382	58	29	15.09

---

10. Manny Ramirez



• Teams: Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago White Sox, Tampa Bay Rays
• Position: OF, DH

Manny Ramirez

# of Seasons	Career HR	Season High	Avg Season	PA/HR
19	555	45	29	15.02

---

11. Adam Dunn



• Teams: Cincinnati Reds, Arizona Diamondbacks, Washington Nationals, Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics
• Position: OF, 1B, DH

Adam Dunn

# of Seasons	Career HR	Season High	Avg Season	PA/HR
14	462	46	33	14.99

---

12. Ted Williams



• Teams: Boston Red Sox
• Position: OF

Ted Williams

# of Seasons	Career HR	Season High	Avg Season	PA/HR
19	521	43	27	14.84

---

13. Sammy Sosa



• Teams: Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, Baltimore Orioles
• Position: OF

Sammy Sosa

# of Seasons	Career HR	Season High	Avg Season	PA/HR
18	609	66	34	14.63

---

14. Harmon Killebrew



• Teams: Washington Senators, Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Royals
• Position: 1B, 3B, OF

Harmon Killebrew

# of Seasons	Career HR	Season High	Avg Season	PA/HR
22	573	49	26	14.35

---

15. Ralph Kiner



• Teams: Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians
• Position: OF

Ralph Kiner

# of Seasons	Career HR	Season High	Avg Season	PA/HR
10	369	54	37	14.15

---

16. Jim Thome



• Teams: Cleveland Indians, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesota Twins, Baltimore Orioles
• Position: 1B, DH, 3B

Jim Thome

# of Seasons	Career HR	Season High	Avg Season	PA/HR
22	612	52	28	13.88

---

17. Giancarlo Stanton



• Teams: Miami Marlins
• Position: OF

Giancarlo Stanton

# of Seasons	Career HR	Season High	Avg Season	PA/HR
8	267	59	33	13.47

---

18. Barry Bonds



• Teams: Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants
• Position: 3B

Barry Bonds

# of Seasons	Career HR	Season High	Avg Season	PA/HR
22	762	73	35	13.04

---

19. Babe Ruth



• Teams: Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Boston Braves
• Position: OF

Babe Ruth

# of Seasons	Career HR	Season High	Avg Season	PA/HR
22	714	60	32	11.92

---

20. Mark McGwire



• Teams: Oakland Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals
• Position: 1B

Mark McGwire

# of Seasons	Career HR	Season High	Avg Season	PA/HR
16	583	70	36	10.75

---