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
| Total | MLB+ | NPB | KBO | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sadaharu Oh | 868 | 0 | 868 | 0 | |||||
| 2 | Barry Bonds | 762 | 762 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 3 | Hank Aaron | 755 | 755 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 4 | Alex Rodriguez | 696 | 696 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 5 | Albert Pujols | 679 | 679 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 6 | Willie Mays | 660 | 660 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 7 | Katsuya Nomura | 657 | 0 | 657 | 0 | |||||
| 8 | Ken Griffey Jr | 630 | 630 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 9 | Lee Seung Yuop | 616 | 0 | 159 | 457 | |||||
| 10 | Jim Thome | 612 | 612 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 11 | Sammy Sosa | 609 | 609 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 12 | Frank Robinson | 586 | 586 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 13 | Mark McGwire | 583 | 583 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 14 | Harmon Killebrew | 573 | 573 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 15 | Rafael Palmeiro | 569 | 569 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 16 | Hiromitsu Kadota | 567 | 0 | 567 | 0 | |||||
| 17 | Reggie Jackson | 563 | 563 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 18 | Manny Ramirez | 555 | 555 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 19 | Mike Schmidt | 548 | 548 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 20 | David Ortiz | 541 | 541 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 21 | Mickey Mantle | 536 | 536 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 21 | Koji Yamamoto | 536 | 0 | 536 | 0 | |||||
| 23 | Kazuhiro Kiyohara | 525 | 0 | 525 | 0 | |||||
| 24 | Willie McCovey | 521 | 521 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 24 | Frank Thomas | 521 | 521 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 24 | Ted Williams | 521 | 521 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 27 | Ernie Banks | 512 | 512 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 27 | Eddie Mathews | 512 | 512 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 28 | Mel Ott | 511 | 511 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 29 | Hiromitsu Ochiai | 510 | 0 | 510 | 0 | |||||
| 30 | Gary Sheffield | 509 | 509 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 31 | Hideki Matsui | 507 | 175 | 332 | 0 | |||||
| 32 | Eddie Murray | 504 | 504 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 32 | Isao Harimoto | 504 | 0 | 504 | 0 | |||||
| 32 | Sachio Kinugasa | 504 | 0 | 504 | 0 | |||||
| 35 | Miguel Cabrera | 502 | 502 | 0 | 0 |
