At bats per home run


In baseball statistics, at bats per home run is a way to measure how frequently a batter hits a home run. It is determined by dividing the number of at bats by the number of home runs hit. Mark McGwire possesses the MLB record for this statistic with a career ratio of 10.61 at bats per home run and Babe Ruth is second, with 11.76 at bats per home run. Giancarlo Stanton has the best current career ratio with 13.81 at bats per home run.

Major League Baseball leaders

Career

Totals are current through the end of the 2019 season, minimum 3000 plate appearances.
  1. Mark McGwire - 10.61
  2. Babe Ruth - 11.76
  3. Barry Bonds - 12.92
  4. Jim Thome - 13.76
  5. Giancarlo Stanton - 13.81

    Season

Single-season statistics are current through the end of the 2013 season. Active players in bold.
  1. Barry Bonds - 6.52
  2. Mark McGwire - 7.27
  3. Mark McGwire - 8.02
  4. Mark McGwire - 8.13
  5. Barry Bonds - 8.29
Babe Ruth was the first batter to average fewer than nine at-bats per home run over a season, hitting his 54 home runs of the 1920 season in 457 at-bats; an average of 8.463. Seventy-eight years later, Mark McGwire became the first batter to average fewer than eight AB/HR, hitting his 70 home runs of the 1998 season in 509 at-bats. In 2001, Barry Bonds became the first batter to average fewer than seven AB/HR, setting the Major League record by hitting his 73 home runs of the 2001 season in 476 at-bats for an average of 6.5205.
Ruth, McGwire and Bonds are the only batters in history to average nine or fewer AB/HR over a season, having done so nine times:
BatterSeasonHRABAB/HR
Babe Ruth1920544578.4630
Babe Ruth1927605409.0000
Mark McGwire1996524238.1346
Mark McGwire1998705097.2714
Mark McGwire1999655218.0154
Barry Bonds2001734766.5205
Barry Bonds2002464038.7610
Barry Bonds2003453908.6670
Barry Bonds2004453738.2890