What Players Can Move up the Top 50 of the MLB Career Homeruns List in 2009?
With another baseball season quickly approaching, let’s take a look at what active players have an opportunity to move into prominent positions on the All-Time Career Home Run List. The top 50 career homerun hitters heading into the 2009 season are listed in the table below.
The following players have legitimate shots to move into the top 50 with “normal” seasons. The top 50 cut-off point is currently the 390 career homeruns hit by Graig Nettles.
- Jim Edmonds is at #55 with 382 career homeruns. He needs 9 more homeruns to crack the top 50. Probability: High
- Andruw Jones is at #66 with 371 career homeruns. He needs 20 more homeruns to crack the top 50. Probability: Who the hell knows
- Luis Gonzalez is at #74 with 354 career homeruns. He needs 37 more homeruns to crack the top 50. Probablity: Next to impossible, unless he gets back on the juice
- Albert Pujols is at #98 with 319 career homeruns. He needs 72 more homeruns to crack the top 50. Probablity: Low, but let’s all hope and pray he goes two over that total and becomes the legitimate single-season homerun king.
Now, how about the current players in the Top 20 of the career homeruns list, and where they could end the 2009 season:
- Ken Griffey Jr. sits at #5 on the career home runs list with 611. He needs 49 to tie Willie Mays for #4. I’d love to see it happen, but probably not this season. Maybe if he plays two more.
- Alex Rodriguez sits at #12 on the career home runs list. With 58 homeruns in 2009, he would tie Ken Griffey Jr. for 5th. More likely is that he hits somewhere between 33 and 55 and ends the 2009 season ahead of Frank Robinson for 7th on the career homeruns list.
- Jim Thome sits at #14 on the career home runs list. If he hits 32 or more homeruns in 2009, he will pass Harmon Killebrew, currently at #9.
- Manny Ramirez sits at #17 on the career homer uns list with 527. Harmon Killebrew’s 573 might not be out of the question in Manny plays an entire season like he ended last season with the Dodgers. More than likely, Manny Ramirez will somewhere near or above 36 homeruns in 2009 and challenge Reggie Jackson, who is currently #11 with 563.
- Frank Thomas is currently tied for 18th with 521 career homeruns. The A’s recently declined arbitration with The Big Hurt, and his 2009 season is up in the air, despite his stated desire to play two more years. Mickey Mantle at #15 with 536 homeruns is within reach is Frank is healthy and gets regular at bats.
To figure out where the rest of the Top 50 career homerun hitters could end up after the 2009 season, just use the chart below to see where they currently rank:
MLB Top 50 Career Homeruns List
| Number | Player | Career Homeruns |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barry Bonds^ | 762 |
| 2 | Hank Aaron | 755 |
| 3 | Babe Ruth | 714 |
| 4 | Willie Mays | 660 |
| 5 | Ken Griffey Jr.* | 611 |
| 6 | Sammy Sosa^ | 609 |
| 7 | Frank Robinson | 586 |
| 8 | Mark McGwire^ | 583 |
| 9 | Harmon Killebrew | 573 |
| 10 | Rafael Palmeiro^ | 569 |
| 11 | Reggie Jackson | 563 |
| 12 | Alex Rodriguez^* | 553 |
| 13 | Mike Schmidt | 548 |
| 14 | Jim Thome* | 541 |
| 15 | Mickey Mantle | 536 |
| 16 | Jimmie Foxx | 534 |
| 17 | Manny Ramirez* | 527 |
| 18-T | Willie McCovey | 521 |
| 18-T | Frank Thomas* | 521 |
| 18-T | Ted Williams | 521 |
| 21 | Ernie Banks | 512 |
| 21-T | Eddie Mathews | 512 |
| 23 | Mel Ott | 511 |
| 24 | Eddie Murray | 504 |
| 25 | Gary Sheffield^* | 499 |
| 26-T | Lou Gehrig | 493 |
| 26-T | Fred McGriff | 493 |
| 28-T | Stan Musial | 475 |
| 28-T | Willie Stargell | 475 |
| 30 | Carlos Delgado* | 469 |
| 31 | Dave Winfield | 465 |
| 32 | Jose Canseco^ | 462 |
| 33 | Carl Yastrzemski | 452 |
| 34 | Jeff Bagwell^ | 449 |
| 35 | Dave Kingman | 442 |
| 36 | Andre Dawson | 438 |
| 37 | Juan Gonzalez^ | 434 |
| 38 | Cal Ripken Jr. | 431 |
| 39 | Mike Piazza | 427 |
| 40 | Billy Williams | 426 |
| 41 | Darrell Evans | 414 |
| 42 | Chipper Jones* | 408 |
| 43 | Duke Snider | 407 |
| 44-T | Andres Galarraga | 39 |
| 44-T | Al Kaline | 399 |
| 46 | Dale Murphy | 398 |
| 47-T | Joe Carter | 396 |
| 47-T | Jason Giambi^* | 396 |
| 49 | Vladimir Guerrero | 392 |
| 50 | Graig Nettles | 390 |
| * - active player | ||
| ^ - linked to steroid use |
Click here to see the rest of the top 500 career homeruns list.
And now, I don’t feel out iota of guilt for putting ^ marks next to players’ names who have been implicated, explicit proof or not, for using steroids. Major League Baseball lost its chance to provide players the benefit of the doubt, in my opinion. As far as I’m concerned, you are guilty until proven innocent when credible allegations arise.
What a bunch of cheating liars…
Tags: albert pujols, alex rodriguez, frank thomas, homeruns, jim thome, ken griffey jr, MLB, mlb records
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