Baseball's Best Decade (9 page)

1930s -
The 1920s introduced the home run as an everyday offensive weapon. The 1930s opened the floodgates on home runs throughout major league line-ups, as home run totals in the major leagues increased by more than 40% over the 1920s (and would increase every decade thereafter). Jimmie Foxx was the majors’ most feared slugger in the 1930s, with 415 dingers, the last time a player would hit more than 400 home runs in a decade until Mark McGwire in the 1990s.

Who almost made the list?
Earl Averill at 218, Hank Greenberg at 206, Babe Ruth at 198.

1940s –
Ted Williams’ leading total of 234 home runs wouldn’t have made the top 5 a decade earlier, but Williams and many other stars of the 1940s didn’t play a full decade due to military service. Of the 7 full seasons he played, Williams led the American League in home runs 4 times, winning the Triple Crown in 1942 and 1947, only the second (and so far, the last) player to accomplish that more than once (Rogers Hornsby did it in 1922 and 1925).

Who almost made the list?
Ralph Kiner at 168, Bobby Doerr at 164, Stan Musial at 146.

The Top
Home Run Hitters for Each Decade: 1950s-1970s

Mantle, Mays and Mathews got the publicity, but no player in the 1950s hit more home runs than Dodgers’ outfielder Duke Snider. During that decade, Snider batted a combined .308 and averaged 33 home runs and 108 RBIs per season.

Teammates Gil Hodges and Duke Snider combined for 636 home runs during the 1950s. They were the only players to hit 300 or more home runs during that decade.

Harmon Killebrew was one of only two players ever to hit 49 home runs twice in a season but never hit 50. The other player was Lou Gehrig.

Hank Aaron (left) and Eddie Mathews hit home runs in the same game 75 times – 2 times more than Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, and 7 times more than Willie Mays and Willie McCovey.

1950s –
Two Brooklyn Dodgers, Duke Snider and Gil Hodges, were the only major leaguers to hit more than 300 home runs during the 1950s. Snider led the National League in home runs only once (1956); Hodges never led the league in home runs. Winner of the most home run titles during the decade was Mickey Mantle, with 3, including a Triple Crown in 1956.

Who almost made the list?
Yogi Berra at 256, Willie Mays at 250, Ted Kluszewski at 239.

1960s –
In the pitching-dominated 1960s, it’s amazing that as many as 5 players hit 300 or more home runs for the decade – the first time that had happened. Harmon Killebrew led the American League in home runs 5 times during the decade. Hank Aaron and the two San Francisco Willies, Mays and McCovey, each claimed the National League home run championship 3 times, while Frank Robinson was a home run champ only once – when he won the American League Triple Crown in 1966.

Who almost made the list?
Frank Howard at 288, Norm Cash at 278, Ernie Banks at 269.

1970s –
The 1970s offered the closest “race” among decade-long home run hitters, with only 6 home runs separating the top 3 sluggers. Willie Stargell and Johnny Bench each won the home run title twice in the National League, as did Reggie Jackson in the American League. (Jackson won it 2 more times in the 1980s.) The most home run titles during the 1970s were collected by Mike Schmidt, with 3.