Career Leaders: HR

I had a rant on Friday prompted by something I read in the Japanese and American media about Shohei Ohtani being on the verge of the majors’ first 10-win, 10-home run season since Babe Ruth’s 1918 for the Boston Red Sox and how blatantly stupid saying that is because MLB now considers Bullet Rogan’s 1922 season “major league.”

The 1st since Babe Ruth? Hardly

The real problem is the propaganda pushed by MLB that it alone is major league baseball and the acceptance of that by its many media flunkies and consumers. In that alternate universe, the rest of the world’s elite leagues are unworthy of comparison and are treated as others.

In tweeting about that article, I wrote that Sadaharu Oh hit more home runs than any other player in a major league. Here’s another way to say that: Sadaharu Oh is the career major league home run leader.

That is not the same as saying Oh is the MLB home run leader, because MLB’s leagues are only a subset of the major leagues.

Here then, are — as best as I can figure — is a list of major leaguers with 500-plus home runs. Of the two Negro League players on this list, I only have Willie Mays’ data: zero home runs with the Birmingham Black Barons, and no record for Henry Aaron with Indianapolis. Josh Gibson now has 165, although I expect that to climb after additional records are confirmed.

major league HR leaders

TotalMLB+NPBKBO
1Sadaharu Oh86808680
2Barry Bonds76276200
3Hank Aaron75575500
4Alex Rodriguez69669600
5Albert Pujols67967900
6Willie Mays66066000
7Katsuya Nomura65706570
8Ken Griffey Jr63063000
9Lee Seung Yuop6160159457
10Jim Thome61261200
11Sammy Sosa60960900
12Frank Robinson58658600
13Mark McGwire58358300
14Harmon Killebrew57357300
15Rafael Palmeiro56956900
16Hiromitsu Kadota56705670
17Reggie Jackson56356300
18Manny Ramirez55555500
19Mike Schmidt 54854800
20David Ortiz54154100
21Mickey Mantle53653600
21Koji Yamamoto53605360
23Kazuhiro Kiyohara52505250
24Willie McCovey52152100
24Frank Thomas52152100
24Ted Williams52152100
27Ernie Banks51251200
27Eddie Mathews51251200
28Mel Ott51151100
29Hiromitsu Ochiai51005100
30Gary Sheffield50950900
31Hideki Matsui5071753320
32Eddie Murray50450400
32Isao Harimoto50405040
32Sachio Kinugasa50405040
35Miguel Cabrera50250200
List of major leaguers with 500-plus home runs

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