SWC75
Bored Historian
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(This is another Golden Oldie from my review of WORD documents I've accumulated over the years. I'm posting those that might still be of interest.)
The home-road splits of the top home run hitters in history. I also decided to do the same for the top batting averages and slugging percentages. The first of the two numbers is the home number, the second the road number. I’ll list all home run hitters with 500+ homers. I’ll rank them by their road home runs with total home runs as a tie-breaker. I’ll give all three numbers for each player with home runs first, then batting average and slugging percentage. I’ll break the list after ever five players to make it easier to see where they rank.
Stats from Baseball Reference.com: MLB & Baseball Leaders & Records | Baseball-Reference.com
Home Runs Batting Average Slugging Percentage
Barry Bonds 379/383 .301/.296 .618/.597
Hank Aaron 385/370 .303/.306 .557/.552
Babe Ruth 347/367 .346/.338 .698/.682
Albert Pujols 303/343 .304/.297 .550/.552
Alex Rodriguez 354/342 .301/.288 .564/.536
Willie Mays 335/325 .302/.301 .567/.549
David Ortiz 241/300 .305/.267 .565/.538
Ken Griffey Jr. 332/298 .296/.272 .573/.505
Mark McGwire 285/298 .262/.263 .591/.586
Sammy Sosa 321/288 .277/.270 .555/.513
Reggie Jackson 280/283 .255/.268 .481/.499
Mike Schmidt 265/283 .272/.263 .540/.515
Harmon Killebrew 291/282 .259/.254 .519/.498
Eddie Mathews 238/274 .264/.277 .488/.529
Jim Thome 339/273 .276/.277 .579/.529
Manny Ramírez 282/273 .311/.314 .591/.580
Ted Williams 248/273 .361/.328 .652/.615
Mickey Mantle 266/270 .305/.291 .569/.545
Frank Robinson 321/265 .306/.283 .573/.504
Eddie Murray 242/262 .288/.286 .470/.482
Rafael Palmeiro 311/258 .285/.291 .527/.502
Willie McCovey 264/257 .271/.269 .527/.504
Gary Sheffield 262/247 .296/.288 .527/.501
Jimmie Foxx 299/235 .345/.307 .663/.561
Ernie Banks 290/222 .290/.259 .537/.462
Frank Thomas 312/209 .305/.297 .599/.511
Mel Ott 323/188 .297/.311 .558/.510
Comments: The great home run hitters can hit home runs anywhere. Still it’s interesting the extent to which some of them were helped or hurt by their own ballparks. Met Ott played in the Polo Grounds, a wash-tub shaped stadium, (picture the drain as home plate). He was a dead pull hitter and used that to hit 323 home runs there vs. 188 on the road. But 188 x 2 = 376 which is still pretty good.
He’s also an example of the strange phenomenon of a player hitting for a higher batting average in a venue where he hit fewer home runs: he hit .311 on the road and .297 at home. Maybe batting average is more a product of hitting the ball where it’s pitched and home runs more about pulling the ball. But Ted Williams was a great advocate of pulling the ball and he hit .344 lifetime.
Ted and David Ortiz shows that Fenway Park can be difficult for a left handed hitter. David had a 241/300 split while ted had a 248/273 split. However both hit for higher averages at home: David .305/.267, Ted .361/.328. They must have pulled the ball more on the road than at home.
I hear a lot about Jimmie Foxx and his great power. He’s the #2 ranked power hitter of all time, just behind Babe Ruth and just ahead of Mickey Mantle, by Bill Jenkinson, author of the book “Baseball’s Ultimate Power”, who has made long home runs his life study. Jenkinson list the top ten longest home runs of the top 40 power hitters in his rankings and all ten of Foxx’s are at least 505 feet long! But he was certainly helped by his own ballparks, Shibe Park in Philadelphia followed by Fenway as a right handed hitter: 299/235.
I’ve always heard that Mickey Mantle lost home runs in Yankee Stadium because he was a spray hitter and that Roger Maris took advantage of the short porch there in right field because he was a pull hitter. But Mickey hit nearly as many home runs at the Stadium, (266) as he did on the road while Roger, (who, due to injuries had only 275 homers and thus is not on this list), had a split of 122/153. When the Yankees acquired him from Kansas City, he was at 24/34. In 1960, the year he won his first MVP, he hit 39 home runs and only 13 were at the Stadium. In his big year of 1961, he hit 30 at the Stadium and 31 on the road. So he learned to pull the ball to hit home runs in Yankee Stadium but still hit more on the road. That was the big difference between 1960 and 1961. He was 51/52 the rest of his tenure with the Yankees and 4/10 in two years in St. Louis. So he was never favored by his home ballpark.
The home-road splits of the top home run hitters in history. I also decided to do the same for the top batting averages and slugging percentages. The first of the two numbers is the home number, the second the road number. I’ll list all home run hitters with 500+ homers. I’ll rank them by their road home runs with total home runs as a tie-breaker. I’ll give all three numbers for each player with home runs first, then batting average and slugging percentage. I’ll break the list after ever five players to make it easier to see where they rank.
Stats from Baseball Reference.com: MLB & Baseball Leaders & Records | Baseball-Reference.com
Home Runs Batting Average Slugging Percentage
Barry Bonds 379/383 .301/.296 .618/.597
Hank Aaron 385/370 .303/.306 .557/.552
Babe Ruth 347/367 .346/.338 .698/.682
Albert Pujols 303/343 .304/.297 .550/.552
Alex Rodriguez 354/342 .301/.288 .564/.536
Willie Mays 335/325 .302/.301 .567/.549
David Ortiz 241/300 .305/.267 .565/.538
Ken Griffey Jr. 332/298 .296/.272 .573/.505
Mark McGwire 285/298 .262/.263 .591/.586
Sammy Sosa 321/288 .277/.270 .555/.513
Reggie Jackson 280/283 .255/.268 .481/.499
Mike Schmidt 265/283 .272/.263 .540/.515
Harmon Killebrew 291/282 .259/.254 .519/.498
Eddie Mathews 238/274 .264/.277 .488/.529
Jim Thome 339/273 .276/.277 .579/.529
Manny Ramírez 282/273 .311/.314 .591/.580
Ted Williams 248/273 .361/.328 .652/.615
Mickey Mantle 266/270 .305/.291 .569/.545
Frank Robinson 321/265 .306/.283 .573/.504
Eddie Murray 242/262 .288/.286 .470/.482
Rafael Palmeiro 311/258 .285/.291 .527/.502
Willie McCovey 264/257 .271/.269 .527/.504
Gary Sheffield 262/247 .296/.288 .527/.501
Jimmie Foxx 299/235 .345/.307 .663/.561
Ernie Banks 290/222 .290/.259 .537/.462
Frank Thomas 312/209 .305/.297 .599/.511
Mel Ott 323/188 .297/.311 .558/.510
Comments: The great home run hitters can hit home runs anywhere. Still it’s interesting the extent to which some of them were helped or hurt by their own ballparks. Met Ott played in the Polo Grounds, a wash-tub shaped stadium, (picture the drain as home plate). He was a dead pull hitter and used that to hit 323 home runs there vs. 188 on the road. But 188 x 2 = 376 which is still pretty good.
He’s also an example of the strange phenomenon of a player hitting for a higher batting average in a venue where he hit fewer home runs: he hit .311 on the road and .297 at home. Maybe batting average is more a product of hitting the ball where it’s pitched and home runs more about pulling the ball. But Ted Williams was a great advocate of pulling the ball and he hit .344 lifetime.
Ted and David Ortiz shows that Fenway Park can be difficult for a left handed hitter. David had a 241/300 split while ted had a 248/273 split. However both hit for higher averages at home: David .305/.267, Ted .361/.328. They must have pulled the ball more on the road than at home.
I hear a lot about Jimmie Foxx and his great power. He’s the #2 ranked power hitter of all time, just behind Babe Ruth and just ahead of Mickey Mantle, by Bill Jenkinson, author of the book “Baseball’s Ultimate Power”, who has made long home runs his life study. Jenkinson list the top ten longest home runs of the top 40 power hitters in his rankings and all ten of Foxx’s are at least 505 feet long! But he was certainly helped by his own ballparks, Shibe Park in Philadelphia followed by Fenway as a right handed hitter: 299/235.
I’ve always heard that Mickey Mantle lost home runs in Yankee Stadium because he was a spray hitter and that Roger Maris took advantage of the short porch there in right field because he was a pull hitter. But Mickey hit nearly as many home runs at the Stadium, (266) as he did on the road while Roger, (who, due to injuries had only 275 homers and thus is not on this list), had a split of 122/153. When the Yankees acquired him from Kansas City, he was at 24/34. In 1960, the year he won his first MVP, he hit 39 home runs and only 13 were at the Stadium. In his big year of 1961, he hit 30 at the Stadium and 31 on the road. So he learned to pull the ball to hit home runs in Yankee Stadium but still hit more on the road. That was the big difference between 1960 and 1961. He was 51/52 the rest of his tenure with the Yankees and 4/10 in two years in St. Louis. So he was never favored by his home ballpark.
