50 Fun Facts About Home Run

What is the MLB career home run record, set by Barry Bonds?

He passed Hank Aaron's 755 on August 7, 2007, and finished with seven more.

Whose all-time record did Bonds break with his 756th home run in 2007?

Oddly, the pitcher who gave up 756, Mike Bacsik, was the son of a pitcher who had faced Aaron right after his 755th.

Which pitcher gave up Bonds's record-breaking 756th home run?

It came at 8:51 p.m. on August 7, 2007, against the Washington Nationals in San Francisco.

The record-breaking 715th home run of 1974 came off which Dodgers pitcher?

A record Braves crowd of 53,775 saw it; Bill Buckner nearly went over the fence trying to catch it.

Who holds the verified world record for professional career home runs, with 868?

He played all 22 of his seasons for Japan's Yomiuri Giants and retired in 1980.

The world career home run leader spent his entire playing career with which Japanese team?

He later managed the Giants, the SoftBank Hawks and Japan's 2006 World Baseball Classic winners.

Which Negro league slugger's Hall of Fame plaque says he hit 'almost 800' home runs?

Ken Burns's Baseball put his true total as high as 950; league records were too patchy to know.

What is the MLB single-season home run record?

Barry Bonds set it in 2001, three years after McGwire's 70.

How many home runs did Babe Ruth hit in his record 1927 season?

The 60th landed barely fair down the right-field line and stood as the record for 34 years.

Who broke Ruth's single-season mark with 61 home runs in 1961?

He hit number 61 in the season's final game off Boston's Tracy Stallard.

Why was the 1961 record considered controversial?

Commissioner Ford Frick said the record had to be set within 154 games; there was never actually an asterisk.

Which fan caught the 61st home run ball in 1961?

He caught it in the right-field bleachers at Yankee Stadium in front of 23,154 fans.

How many home runs did Aaron Judge hit in 2022 to set the American League record?

Number 62 came off Jesús Tinoco of the Rangers in the second-to-last game of the season.

Who was Mark McGwire's rival in the 1998 home run chase, finishing with 66?

He hit 60 or more three times, and never led the league in any of those seasons.

McGwire's record-breaking 62nd home run in 1998 came off which Cubs pitcher?

Because the game was against the Cubs, Sosa could congratulate him in person.

According to The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, the term 'grand slam' comes from which card game?

A four-run homer is never called a four-run homer.

Fernando Tatís Sr. hit two grand slams in one inning in 1999, both off which pitcher?

His eight RBI in one inning are still a Major League record.

Who is the only player to hit two grand slams in one game from opposite sides of the plate?

The Red Sox switch-hitter did it in consecutive at-bats against Texas in 2003.

Who hit the only walk-off grand slam in World Series history, in Game 1 in 2024?

It came in the bottom of the tenth and gave the Dodgers a 6-3 win over the Yankees.

Which Hall of Fame reliever is credited with coining the term 'walk-off'?

The losing team, he reasoned, has to walk off the field.

Whose ninth-inning homer in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series is the only Game 7 walk-off ever?

The Pirates second baseman was better known for his glove; the shot beat the heavily favoured Yankees.

Joe Carter's 1993 World Series-winning home run came off which Phillies pitcher?

Carter had been 0-for-4 against 'Wild Thing' in his career before that at-bat.

The 1951 'Shot Heard 'Round the World' was hit by which New York Giant?

It won the National League pennant against the Dodgers; the 'Staten Island Scot' called it the best thing that ever happened to him.

Whose pinch-hit walk-off in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series is one of the most replayed home runs ever?

He could barely walk, and it was his only at-bat of the Series.

Fenway Park's left-field foul pole is named after which catcher, whose 1975 World Series homer struck it?

Footage of him waving the ball fair even turns up in Good Will Hunting.

Which light-hitting Yankees shortstop homered over the Green Monster in the 1978 tiebreaker?

He was that year's World Series MVP, but Red Sox fans still add a middle name for him.

Babe Ruth's 'called shot' in the 1932 World Series was hit at which ballpark?

Film confirms he pointed; whether he was calling a homer or taunting the Cubs' dugout is still unknown.

Who hit three home runs in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series, on three consecutive first pitches?

Add his last swing of Game 5 and it was four homers on four consecutive swings.

Rickey Henderson holds the career record for leadoff home runs with how many?

George Springer is second all-time; Craig Biggio holds the National League mark.

Which team hit four consecutive home runs against the Phillies in July 2022?

Arenado, Gorman, Yepez and Carlson went back-to-back-to-back-to-back in the first inning off Kyle Gibson.

Which pair are the only father and son to hit back-to-back home runs in the majors?

They did it for Seattle on September 14, 1990, off Kirk McCaskill.

What is a 'home run cycle', a feat never achieved in MLB?

It has happened twice in the minors, most recently by Chandler Redmond in 2022.

Who hit the first home run in National League history, in 1876?

He played for the Chicago White Stockings, the team now known as the Cubs.

Before 1931, how did MLB score a fair ball that bounced over the outfield fence?

Babe Herman hit the last 'bounce' home run at Ebbets Field in September 1930.

Which Yankee 'mythically' hit a 643-foot home run in 1960, measured after the ball stopped rolling?

MLB's longest verifiable shot is Ruth's roughly 575 feet at Tiger Stadium.

In which city did a minor leaguer hit the longest verifiable pro home run, 582 feet, in 1987?

Joey Meyer of the Denver Zephyrs hit it in the thin air of the Rockies' future city.

Through the 2024 postseason, who held the career record for postseason home runs, with 29?

Jose Altuve was next, still active and closing in; Mickey Mantle's 18 all came in the World Series.

Who set the record for most home runs in a single postseason, ten in 2020?

He did it as a Rays rookie in the pandemic bubble playoffs.

How many home runs were hit across MLB in May 2019, the most in any month in history?

That month 44.5% of all runs scored came via the long ball.

Whose 2008 home run at Tropicana Field was the first ever reviewed by instant replay?

The ball hit a catwalk behind the foul pole; after 2 minutes 15 seconds the umpires confirmed the homer.

Which 2007 All-Star Game MVP hit the only inside-the-park home run in All-Star history?

The ball caromed off the right-centre wall in San Francisco away from Griffey.

Who is the only MLB player to hit a walk-off inside-the-park grand slam?

He did it at Forbes Field in July 1956 to beat the Cubs 9-8.

What did the winner of each episode of the 1960 TV series Home Run Derby receive?

Aaron, Mantle and Mays all appeared over the show's 26 episodes.

Who set the Home Run Derby single-round record with 41 homers in 2023?

He topped Guerrero's 40 from 2019, but still lost the final that year.

Who became the first and only player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in one season, in 2024?

He finished 54-59 and won a unanimous NL MVP without pitching an inning.

'Splash hits' land on the fly in McCovey Cove, beyond the right-field wall of which ballpark?

Fans wait in kayaks; Bonds accounts for 35 of the Giants' splash hits.

What was Frank 'Home Run' Baker's highest single-season home run total?

He played in the dead-ball era and finished with 96 career homers.

Which Red Sox legend homered in his final major-league at-bat in 1960, then refused to tip his cap?

John Updike's essay 'Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu' immortalised the moment.

Which slugger hit MLB's 250,000th home run, a grand slam, in 2008?

He had hit number 249,999 in his previous at-bat.

Which old saying, coined by pitcher Fritz Ostermueller, sums up the pay gap for sluggers?

He said it around 1948 while mentoring young teammate Ralph Kiner.