Favorite Home Run Hitter? Part I

I realize that baseball is a game of many nuances and strategies but the Home Run is still the most exciting play in the game to most fans. Which makes the 500+ HR club special.
20 players have hit 500 or more HR's in their careers. Of the players on this exclusive list, which is your favorite?

Part I of II.


Lets start from the top. Your favorite in the Top-10.

On edit: I messed up the numbers, so please excuse me.

Member of two teams that won the World Series, the 1966 and 1970 Baltimore Orioles.
Given the World Series MVP Award in 1966.
Named MVP twice, in 1961 with the Reds and again in 1966 with the Orioles, becoming the first player to win MVP awards in both leagues.
Rookie of the Year in 1956.
Hit for the Triple Crown in 1966, leading the American League with a .316 batting average, 49 home runs and 122 runs batted in.
Career .294 average, 586 home runs, 1812 runs batted in, and 2808 games played.

He'd kill the Red Sox when they came head to head. The man could drive the ball and hit for average too.

is the most boring play in baseball because it isn't a play. The instant the ball leaves the yard, time is called. There's no action.

The most exciting play in baseball is a bases-loaded triple. Thirteen guys in motion with many possibilities.

But I voted Mays because he was one of the most exciting players in baseball history — a lot more than a home-run hitter.

A display of power that us Americans seem to love.
So you are more of a Ty Cobb guy than a Babe Ruth guy?

Yes, inDEED! :thumbsup:

I was raised on what they now call "small ball" — the Dodgers of the mid-'60s. I still love it.

A well-timed homer is a thing of beauty; witness Kirk Gibson, 1988 World Series, Game 1 — my biggest baseball thrill. But the "homer mania" of recent years disgusted me.

What better tandem than Koufax and Drysdale?

And in the bullpen, Ron Perranoski (16 wins in relief in 1963) and Phil Regan (14-1, 1.62 in '66).

Those were the days when a Dodger rally was a leadoff walk to Wills, he steals second, Gilliam moves him over with a bunt and he scores on a sac fly by Willie Davis. And they'd win 1-0 on a three-hitter by Koufax.

Duke Snider
Johnny Roseboro
Tommy Davis

Junior Gilliam is one of the alltime most underrated players ever, IMHO.

Great glove, great range and one of the best no. 2 hitters in baseball history — at least, for that kind of offense.

Amazes me that the Dodgers managed to win the '65 pennant and Series without Davis. 'Course, they did it by the skin of their teeth, and with Koufax pitching on two days' rest to win both.

Btw, did you know Wills shares a home-run distinction with Mantle and others?

He only hit 20 career HR's.http://www.baseball-reference.com/w/willsma01.shtml

One from the left side, one from the right.

I think Mantle did it 14 times.

And, to be fair, I think one of Wills' two was inside the park.

Didnt know that.
Ken Caminiti did it here in San Diego.

yank the first pitch out of the yard. Landed about 20 feet inside the right-field foul pole. Must've gone all of 320 feet, four inches.

Thinking of San Diego ball, one of your guys who's with the Mets now is a local: X Nady. I wrote a feature on him when he was in high school. As fate would have it, I picked a 9-RBI day to do it.

X-Nady may bud into a superstar someday and they traded him for an aging Mike Cameron.
Geesh!

couldn't figure that out, either.

The Pads totally jacked him around — fourth or fifth outfielder, platooning, trying him at first. If he'd played regularly he might've gotten in a groove.

Watch him hit .290 with about 20-25 jacks in New York.

He was a shortstop in high school, oddly. Looked kinda weird out there — a 6' 3" shortstop. But I've known his prep coach for years, and he's a pretty good baseball man, so I figure they didn't have anyone else who could play short.

480 footer at Jacobs Field....... Deep into the Center Field Area....

Sandy Alomars eight inning home run to beat the Yankees and head into the World Series....

I saw Eddie Murry smack one into the deep into the upper left field seats at old Cleveland Municipal Stadium....

I saw Mickey Mantle hit one of his last Home Runs in a September Game at Municipal Stadium....

There was this guy who played for the Washington Senators.... His first name was Frank... He would crank out homers like you wouldn't believe but hit in the low .230's...

I saw Harmon Killebrew Jack one at Muni... Also Yaz... Boog Powell... Reggie Jackson... Jim Rice... and far too many more to remember...

And Hank.... In his last days as a player with the Milwaukee Brewers... Smacked on down the line on a sunny afternoon....

I saw Mark McGuire smack the middle of the Center Field score Board at the Jake...

But my favorite on that list would have to be Babe Ruth.... Cause he showed the game just how much fun a Home Run Could be.... changed the way baseball was played...


On Edit....

I forgot the most thrilling one of all....

Frank Robinson home run in his first game as the Games first Black Manager... At the opener...

the train tracks across the street.
Remember Tony Conigliaro? Led the AL in HR's at age 20. He had a very sad ending to his career but he could drive the ball too.

I was young and I remember seeing a Red Sox player get hit real bad with a pitch... It may have been him....


He had a brother Billy, I seem to remember...

Being Italian in Boston was also a plus for Tony C.
When that pitch crushed his skull, it was the beginning of the end.
Tony died of a heart attack at age 45. Very sad.

I love Babe. He is my favorite player of all time!

This is who WCGreen was referring to, I think.

He's my fave for sentimental reasons. When I was a kid, I saw him park a couple at RFK.

Did you ever see his swing? It was all from the wrists. If je would have extended his arms...who knows how many he would have hit.
A gentle giant that scared pitchers and 3rd basemen for years, in both leagues.

For my money, he's the best ever.

Hit for power, average, stole bases, had a great arm and made fantastic catches in CF.
Best Major league player EVER!

He called Candlestick "a windswept mockery of a ball park".

that even if he was in the worst slump in history — and Mays was famous for 'em — he could still bring 40,000 people to their feet with a catch or a throw.

That's absolutely true. And after a time, Giants fans paid Mays perhaps the ultimate tribute: it took a superhuman play by him to rate a standing ovation, because he made the merely outstanding play look easy.

Even if he wasn't the greatest all-around player — and it's certainly arguable that he was — Mays could thrill a crowd in more ways than anyone else.

This Yankee fan has to go with Reggie! :bounce:

His performance in the 77 WS was legendary.

The knock on Robby was that he was angry. Growing up Black in late 40's - 50's America it's no wonder. Pete Rose said he learned alot about the game from Robinson. Reds front office told Rose he was hanging around the blacks on the team too much. He said they wanted to win and so did he. I always loved Robinson's sense of humor. In the late 80's, he was managing the Orioles and went in to take a pitcher who was getting shelled. The pitcher asked why he was being taken out and Robby said "because some of our infielders have wives and children."