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 current member of the 70 Home Run Club.

List

As of the 2010 season, 26 players have hit 50-or-more home runs in a single season, a total of 42 times.

Hank Greenberg, Hall of Famer and 2-time MVP

Player	HR	Team	Season	Pos	Career	HoF
Ruth, BabeBabe Ruth	54	New York Yankees	1920^	OF	714	1936
Ruth, BabeBabe Ruth (2)	59	New York Yankees	1921^	OF	714	1936
Ruth, BabeBabe Ruth (3)	60	New York Yankees	1927^	OF	714	1936
Ruth, BabeBabe Ruth (4)	54	New York Yankees	1928	OF	714	1936
Wilson, HackHack Wilson	56	Chicago Cubs	1930	OF	244	1979
Foxx, JimmieJimmie Foxx	58‡	Philadelphia Athletics	1932	1B/3B	534	1951
Foxx, JimmieJimmie Foxx (2)	50	Boston Red Sox	1938	1B	534	1951
Greenberg, HankHank Greenberg	58‡	Detroit Tigers	1938	1B	331	1956
Mize, JohnnyJohnny Mize	51	New York Giants	1947	1B	359	1981
Kiner, RalphRalph Kiner	51	Pittsburgh Pirates	1947	OF	369	1975
Kiner, RalphRalph Kiner (2)	54‡	Pittsburgh Pirates	1949	OF	369	1975
Mays, WillieWillie Mays	51	New York Giants	1955	OF	660	1979
Mantle, MickeyMickey Mantle	52	New York Yankees	1956	CF	536	1974
Mantle, MickeyMickey Mantle (2)	54	New York Yankees	1961	CF	536	1974
Maris, RogerRoger Maris	61‡	New York Yankees	1961^	OF	275
Mays, WillieWillie Mays (2)	52	San Francisco Giants	1965	OF	660	1979
Foster, GeorgeGeorge Foster	52‡	Cincinnati Reds	1977	OF	348
Fielder, CecilCecil Fielder	51	Detroit Tigers	1990	1B	319
Belle, AlbertAlbert Belle	50	Cleveland Indians	1995	LF	381
Anderson, BradyBrady Anderson	50‡	Baltimore Orioles	1996	CF	210
McGwire, MarkMark McGwire	52	Oakland Athletics	1996	1B/DH	583
Griffey, Jr., KenKen Griffey, Jr.	56‡	Seattle Mariners	1997	OF	630
McGwire, MarkMark McGwire (2)	58	Oakland Athletics/St. Louis Cardinals	1997	1B	583
Vaughn, GregGreg Vaughn	50‡	San Diego Padres	1998	LF	355
Griffey, Jr., KenKen Griffey, Jr. (2)	56‡	Seattle Mariners	1998	OF	630
Sosa, SammySammy Sosa	66‡	Chicago Cubs	1998	OF	609
McGwire, MarkMark McGwire (3)	70‡	St. Louis Cardinals	1998^	1B	583
Sosa, SammySammy Sosa (2)	63	Chicago Cubs	1999	OF	609
McGwire, MarkMark McGwire (4)	65	St. Louis Cardinals	1999	1B	583
Sosa, SammySammy Sosa (3)	50	Chicago Cubs	2000	OF	609
Rodriguez, AlexAlex Rodriguez†	52	Texas Rangers	2001	SS	626
Gonzalez, LuisLuis Gonzalez	57‡	Arizona Diamondbacks	2001	LF	354
Sosa, SammySammy Sosa (4)	64	Chicago Cubs	2001	RF	609
Bonds, BarryBarry Bonds	73‡	San Francisco Giants	2001	LF	762
Thome, JimJim Thome†	52‡	Cleveland Indians	2002	1B/DH	603
Rodriguez, AlexAlex Rodriguez† (2)	57‡	Texas Rangers	2002	SS	626
Jones, AndruwAndruw Jones†	51‡	Atlanta Braves	2005	CF	414
Howard, RyanRyan Howard†	58‡	Philadelphia Phillies	2006	1B	279
Ortiz, DavidDavid Ortiz†	54‡	Boston Red Sox	2006	DH	373
Rodriguez, AlexAlex Rodriguez† (3)	54	New York Yankees	2007	3B	613
Fielder, PrincePrince Fielder†	50‡	Milwaukee Brewers	2007	1B	219
Bautista, JoséJosé Bautista†	54‡	Toronto Blue Jays	2010	3B/RF	147

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

Career home run totals are as of through 2011.

Notes on the Club

Cross-membership

Ten members of the club are also members of the 500 home run club (Bonds, Foxx, Griffey, Mantle, Mays, McGwire, Rodriguez, Ruth, Sosa, and Thome), while Bonds, Griffey, Mays, Rodriguez, Ruth, Sosa, and Thome are seven of the eight members of the 600-homer club. Conversely, three retired members of the club hit fewer 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.

Cecil Fielder (1990) and Prince Fielder (2007) are the only father-son combination among the members of the 50 home run club.

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 nine or fewer 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