50 home run club


In Major League Baseball, the 50 home run club is the group of batters who have hit 50 or more home runs in a single season. Babe Ruth was the first to achieve this, doing so in 1920. By reaching the milestone, he also became the first player to hit 30 and then 40 home runs in a single-season, breaking his own record of 29 from the 1919 season. Ruth subsequently became the first player to reach the 50 home run club on four occasions, repeating the achievement in 1921, 1927 and 1928. He remained the only player to accomplish this until Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa matched his feat in 1999 and 2001, respectively, thus becoming the only players to achieve four consecutive 50 home run seasons. Barry Bonds hit the most home runs to join the club, collecting 73 in 2001. The most recent player to reach the milestone is Pete Alonso, achieving the feat during the 2019 season.
In total, 30 players have reached the 50 home run club in MLB history and nine have done so more than once. Of these, eighteen were right-handed batters, eleven were left-handed, and one was a switch hitter, meaning he could bat from either side of the plate. Five of these players have played for only one major league team. The New York Yankees are the only franchise to have five players reach the milestone while on their roster: Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Alex Rodriguez, and Aaron Judge. Ten players are also members of the 500 home run club and two of them are also members of the 3,000 hit club. Ten players won the Most Valuable Player Award in the same year as their 50 home run season. Mantle is the only player to have earned the Major League Triple Crown alongside achieving 50 home runs, leading both leagues in batting average, home runs and runs batted in. Mantle and Maris—collectively known as the M&M Boys—are the only teammates to reach the 50 home run club in the same season, hitting a combined 115 home runs in 1961 and breaking the single-season record for home runs by a pair of teammates. Albert Belle is the only player to amass 50 or more doubles in addition to attaining 50 home runs. Prince Fielder, at 23 years and 139 days, was the youngest player to reach the milestone while Bonds, at age 37, was the oldest. Pete Alonso and Aaron Judge are the only players to hit 50 home runs in their rookie seasons.
Due to the infrequent addition of members into the 50 home run club, Baseball Digest called it "a restrictive fraternity comprising slugging elite" in 1954, when there were only six members. Of the seventeen members eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame, eight have been elected and three were elected on the first ballot. Eligibility requires that a player has "been retired five seasons" or deceased for at least six months, disqualifying four active players and five players who have been retired for less than five seasons. Some believe the milestone has become less important with the large number of new members; fifteen players joined the club on a total of 24 occasions from 1995 to 2010. Additionally, several of these recent members have had ties to performance-enhancing drugs.

Members

YearThe year the player's 50 home run season occurred
Player Name of the player and number of 50 home run seasons they had accomplished at that point
TeamThe player's team for his 50 home run season
HRNumber of home runs in that season
Career HRThe number of home runs the player hit in his MLB career
^Denotes single-season home run record progression
Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
Player is active

YearPlayerTeamHRCareer HRRef
New York Yankees54714
New York Yankees59714
New York Yankees60714
New York Yankees54714
Chicago Cubs56244
Philadelphia Athletics58534
Boston Red Sox50534
Detroit Tigers58331
New York Giants51359
Pittsburgh Pirates51369
Pittsburgh Pirates54369
New York Giants51660
New York Yankees52536
New York Yankees54536
New York Yankees61275
San Francisco Giants52660
Cincinnati Reds52348
Detroit Tigers51319
Cleveland Indians50381
Baltimore Orioles50210
Oakland Athletics52583
Seattle Mariners56630
Oakland Athletics
St. Louis Cardinals		58583
San Diego Padres50355
Seattle Mariners56630
Chicago Cubs66609
St. Louis Cardinals70583
Chicago Cubs63609
St. Louis Cardinals65583
Chicago Cubs50609
Texas Rangers52696
Arizona Diamondbacks57354
Chicago Cubs64609
San Francisco Giants73762
Cleveland Indians52612
Texas Rangers57696
Atlanta Braves51434
Philadelphia Phillies58382
Boston Red Sox54541
New York Yankees54696
Milwaukee Brewers50319
Toronto Blue Jays54344
Baltimore Orioles53295
Miami Marlins59309
New York Yankees52110
New York Mets5354