HOME RUNS VS.
SOSA
By John B.
Holway
In 1998
McGwire and Sosa staged their classic home run race to pass Ruth.
It was close only because Sammy came to bat 134 times more than Mac
did. But Mac finally won because he could lift Sam off the ground in
a bear hug and Sam couldn't lift him -- Sam spotted him about 40 pounds (if
you believe the official team press releases).
What
if Mac had come to bat as often as Sam did that year (643 times)? What
if Bonds had come to bat 643 times last season? Or
Ruth?
I last
reported on lifetime home runs ranked on the assumption that every hitter
comes to bat as often as Hank Aaron (12,346 times). When you level
the playing field, Hank ranked #31.
So let's
see how everyone in history would do if he came up as often as Sosa in a
season. Where would Sammy rank?
AB
HR Vs
Sosa
AB HR vs Sosa
1. '01
Bonds
473 73
99
2. '98
McGwire 509
70 88
3.
''76 Oh
400 49
82
4. '96
McGwire 423
52 79
5.
'73 Oh
428 51
77
6. '20
Ruth
458 54
76
7.
'64
Oh
472 55
75
8.
9. ''77
Oh 432
50 74
10.
'66
Oh 396
48 72
Splitting
the list into two columns dramatizes how under-rated Sadaharu Oh was.
Not that he would have performed as well in the United States, but few
Americans appreciated how often he was walked in the short (130-game) Japanese
seasons -- he holds the world record for bases on balls. If he'd played
a typical U.S. schedule, his 868 lifetime homers would have been 20%
higher, or over 1,000.
11. '01
Sosa
604 66
71
'27
Ruth
540
60 71
'68 Oh
442 49 71
'67 Oh 428
47 71
''70 Oh 425
47 71
16.'21 Ruth
540 59
70
'80 Kadota 377 41
70
18. '97
McGwire 540
58 69
19. '61
Mantle
514 54
68
''72
Oh 456
48 68
21. '38
Greenberg 556
58 67
22. '98 SOSA
643 66
66
23. '61
Maris
590 61
66
24. '99
Sosa
625 63
65
25. '28
Ruth
536 54
65
26. '81
Kadota 438 44
65
'83
Kadota 396 40
65
28. '32
Foxx
585 58
64
29. '56
Mantle
533 52
63
30.
''69 Oh 452
44 63
'88 Kadota 447 44
63
''65 Oh
428 42 63
33. '30
Wilson
585 56
62
34. '26
Ruth
495 47
61
35.
'63 Nomura 550 52 61
36. '01 L
Gonzalez 609
57 60
'65 Mays
558
52 60
38. '29
Ruth
499 46
59
39.
'62 Nomura 489 44 68
40. '57
Williams 420
38 58
41. '87
McGwire
557 49
57
'38
Foxx
565 50
57
43. '55
Mays
580 51
56
'24
Ruth
529 46
56
''70 Nomura 481 42 56
46. '30
Ruth
518 49
55
47. '99
Sosa
604 50
53
'01 A Rodriquez 632
52 53
'68
Nomura 458
38 53
50. '64
Mays
578
47 52
'41 Williams
456 37
52
52. '62
Mays 621
49 51
'96
Sosa
498 40
51
54. '49
Williams
566
43 49
55. '46
Williams
514 38
48
Negro Leaguers are left out, because the number of games per season were well below a typical white big league schedule, and the resulting extrapolations, while impressive, probably could not be sustained for 154 games. For example, in 1939 Josh Gibson hit 17 homers in only 83 at bats, which comes to 132 for 643 at bats. While 132 home runs is unlikely, 61 -- less than half that many -- was certainly possible.
