Hello Baseball Fans,
Next week will bring us the announcement for the 2019 Hall Of Fame writers’ inductees. That is surely exciting as this year’s anticipated class could be the largest ever. And THAT’S cool!! However, that’s not what the title of this post is about. HAHA, got ya! Now, in all baseball-ness, sometime during June of last year, we here at VFTD were brought to the attention of a pretty cool trivia question. Perhaps you know the answer. And in all fairness, we’ll first offer up that it is a tricky li’l sucker of a question. OK, here goes: Which three teammates hit the most CAREER Home Runs WHILE they were all teammates? Go on and think about it a while. And while you read along (NON-spoiler alert, the answer is at the very end of the post so you’re safe to continue). The only clue you will get is that all three teammates are, as you may have guessed, Hall of Famers.
In the meantime, we’ll try to entertain you with what we think are some pretty dazzling and wild numbers. Warning #1! DON’T overthink your answer based on the names and stats of the guys we mention along the way. It’s a trifecta we’re looking for so a player could be mentioned early on and still be part of the answer! There could also be some tips or traps. Even we’re not sure!
With that being said, we may as well start with Babe Ruth. Your mind already went there anyway. We’re sure of it so let’s do it. Sound the sirens again, WARNING #2! We’re going to mention Lou Gehrig along with the Babe. But no one else. I know, I know the answer has to have THREE players, but look, this two man combo is always relevant, as you know. And their numbers will bring you into the ballpark in terms of the range of the quantity of long balls that the winning trifecta amassed. As teammates, Ruth a.k.a. ‘Number Three’ and Gehrig a.k.a. ‘Number Four’ combined for an amazing 859 bombs as teammates from 1923-34. Gehrig, who was much younger, hit only 1 in those first two seasons of ’23 and ’24. He also had just 37 total from ’23 thru ’26, but still pitched in 348 HRs during Ruth’s prime as the Babe hit a whopping 511 long balls in those twelve seasons. WOW!!!!!
OK, so we knew those guys were awesome, but now we do in fact have a flavor for how many homers the winning trifecta will need to likely surpass the Amazing Duo in Ruth and Gehrig and Who? Yes, ‘Who‘ hit homers as it turns out. Naturally, we should check out who ‘Who’ really is. Certainly, a third player could take Ruth and Gehrig to the top and be our answer. Right? Wrong! It sounded good, but this post would lack for numbers and stats and be too short if that were the case. Here’s how. We found Tony Lazzeri, another Hall of Famer (which does fit the clue from above).
Lazzeri hit some bombs and played 14 years. He joined Ruth and Gehrig from 1926 thru ’34, and managed to hit 128 Hrs in that span. However, he eliminated three seasons of Ruth and Gehrig’s 859 mentioned above since he arrived to the party a bit late. The result? Ruth, Gehrig, and Lazzeri combined for 854 HRs in those nine seasons together. As a result, adding Lazzeri netted five LESS to the total HRs as compared to Ruth and Gehrig’s twelve seasons together. So here, we can now see the complexity of the question; to repeat, three guys and their home runs as teammates. HA!
Let’s look out West. Late twentieth century. Ken Griffey Jr. Edgar Martinez. Jay Buhner. They were some kind of powerful for the Mariners. In the 11 seasons from 1989 thru ’99, they amassed an impressive 865 HRs. Martinez chipped in a cool 198, Buhner an impressive 269, and The Kid Griffey a whopping 398! They have to be the best! But they don’t have 3 Hall Of Famers so they’re outta there! ‘All Apologies’ to Seattle, ‘Francis’…… Interestingly, if Griffey didn’t request a trade to his hometown of Cincinnati in 2000, they collectively would have tacked on another 103 HRs that season to bring their total to 968 in 12 seasons. Remember that number, nine hundred sixty-eight. That’s a ton!
And while we’re out on the West Coast, let’s travel to Northern California circa 1960s. Willie and Willie of course. Mays and McCovey. They combined for a career total of 1,181 long balls. Sa-weeeet! As teammates from 1959 to ’72, they totaled 822 (remember that number too) of those nearly twelve hundred HRs with 384 for McCovey and 438 for Mays. That is right in the company of Ruth and Gehrig. If we tack on a third guy for them, certainly they’re the guys, right? Orlando Cepeda. Hall of Famer. Slugging first-sacker/left-fielder. Well, similarly to Lazzeri with Ruth and Gehrig, he wasn’t there as long as the other guys. In seven seasons together from 1959 to ’66, Cepeda contributed 201 HRs as did McCovey and Mays was good for 334. That gives them 736, which is spectacular, of course, in just those seven seasons.
We’re finding some great runs made by teammates out here near the Pacific, but let’s see what we got back toward the middle of the country. Again, mid-50s to early 1960s. Braves. Milwaukee. Hank Aaron. Eddie Mathews. Joe Adcock. These guys could rock some baseballs! From 1954 to ’62, Adcock, whose name should always be accompanied by his impressive 18 Total Base game on July 31, 1954 by hitting four bombs and a double. He kicked in 208 HRs, HOFer Mathews had 287 in those nine seasons, and Aaron a leading 327. Their total? You guessed it, 822. That’s just like the aforementioned total of Mays and McCovey over 14 seasons; pretty cool match here although there’s no direct connection per se and we still don’t have the trivia answer. Overall, in their careers, Aaron (755 HRs), Mathews (512), and Adcock (336) combined for an amazing 1,603 HOME RUNS!!!!!
And while we’re in the northern bread basket region, perhaps we should check out that city by the lake. You know the one. Lake Michigan. No, not Detroit. Wrong direction. Yes, Chicago. Cubs. Remember, we need three hall of famers. Well, there’s Ernie Banks. Everything Cubs starts and ends with Ernie. He arrived in the Windy City in 1953 for ten games and hit his first two of 512 career HRs. Then, in 1959, he was joined by fellow Hall of Famer Billy Williams. He played 18 games, but failed to hit one out and only hit 2 HRs in 1960 in a dozen games played. However, he was a Cubs’ mainstay through the 1974 season and hit 426 career HRs. And arriving to the Cubs in 1960 was a third Hall of Famer, Ron Santo. He hit 9 HRs in 95 games in 1960. He amassed 342 career HRs and played all but one of his seasons on the North Side before finishing his career on the South Side with the ChiSox in 1974.
Trivia Answer: The three teammates to hit the most HRs together is Banks, Williams, and Santo. Their total? 903. That’s wild! In the 12 seasons from 1960 to ’71, Banks, the elder statesmen, hit 284 while Williams banged 319 out, and Santo had an even 300 HRs. That’s quite the feat, ladies and gentlemen. It is a record that has already stood for forty-six seasons. And counting. Now, we mentioned to remember that number of 968. It is a would-be total for Griffey Jr, Martinez, and Buhner. If Griffey did not long to be closer to family after over a decade in Seattle, they would have smashed the Cubbies record of 903 and in the same amount of seasons at twelve. But, other than interesting to ponder, there is nothing else beyond that.
So, did you get the answer? No? No worries, I did not either. But there is ‘always next year’ and the Cubbies remain the trifecta Home Run Kings.
Later Baseball Fans.