Friday night in Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium, Cardinals legend Albert Pujols hit two home runs in the first four innings. They happened to be Nos. 699 and 700 in his illustrious career. This is hallowed ground. Only three players had previously gotten to the threshold of 700 career home runs in Major League Baseball history.
Generally speaking, 500 home runs has long been considered the route to power-hitting immortality and this is 40 percent more. Just to get to 500, a player would have to hit 30 home runs in 16 2/3 seasons and we're talking about an additional 200.
All that is to say, this is a gargantuan number. Let's take a look at some leaderboards where Pujols stacks up quite well, historically.
Most career home runs
1. Barry Bonds, 762
2. Hank Aaron, 755
3. Babe Ruth, 714
4. Albert Pujols, 700
5. Alex Rodriguez, 696
6. Willie Mays, 660
7. Ken Griffey Jr., 630
8. Jim Thome, 612
9. Sammy Sosa, 609
10. Frank Robinson, 586
Most career home runs, right-handed hitters
1. Hank Aaron, 755
2. Albert Pujols, 700
3. Alex Rodriguez, 696
4. Willie Mays, 660
5. Sammy Sosa, 609
6. Frank Robinson, 586
7. Mark McGwire, 583
8. Harmon Killebrew, 573
9. Manny Ramirez, 555
10. Mike Schmidt, 548
Most seasons with 40-plus home runs
- 11 - Babe Ruth
- 8 - Hank Aaron, Harmon Killebrew, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez
- 7 - Albert Pujols, Ken Griffey Jr., Sammy Sosa
Most seasons with 30-plus home runs
- 15 - Hank Aaron, Alex Rodriguez
- 14 - Albert Pujols, Barry Bonds
- 13 - Babe Ruth, Mike Schmidt
- 12 - Jimmie Foxx, Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome
Most seasons with 20-plus home runs
- 20 - Hank Aaron
- 19 - Barry Bonds
- 18 - Albert Pujols
- 17 - Frank Robinson, Willie Mays
- 16 - Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Reggie Jackson, Eddie Murray, Jim Thome, Alex Rodriguez
