The Barry Bonds Home Run Stat No One Talks About
It’s been a while since we’ve seen a good home run chase. This 2022 MLB Season, we’ve been gifted two of them. Aaron Judge is chasing the American League home run record long held by Roger Maris. Albert Pujols is knocking on the door of the 700 Home Run Club.
When bringing up the long ball, it would make sense for Barry Bonds to come up at some point. Baseball’s all-time home run leader hit 762 bombs over his career and also set the single-season home run record in 2001. However, some of you might be surprised to learn that Aaron Judge has more seasons in his career with 50 home runs than Barry Bonds did.
It’s true. Other than his 73-homer explosion in 2001, Barry Bonds never hit more than 50 home runs in a season. His next-highest total was 49 in 2000. Maybe some of you already knew this, but I was certainly surprised. It’s especially noteworthy given that his circa-2000 contemporaries Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were consistently turning in seasons with home run totals in the 60s. Of course, Bonds has plenty of other video game numbers. In 2002, he registered a 268 OPS+. For the uninitiated, that means he was 168% better than a league average hitter. His walk stats are utterly insane. In 2004, he was issued 232 walks, 120 of them intentional.
For what it’s worth, Hank Aaron (second all-time in home runs with 756) never had a 50-homer season. So as things stand, Aaron Judge has more seasons with 50 home runs than the two most prolific home run hitters in history have combined. Go figure.
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