Back when 400, not 500 or 600, HRs meant a lot more

[leatherman]

Take a look at the All Time Home Run leaders after the end of the 1980 MLB season:

Rk             Player  HR    G    AB    R    H  2B  3B  RBI   BA  OBP  SLG   OPS
1          Hank Aaron 755 3298 12364 2174 3771 624  98 2297 .305 .374 .555  .928
2           Babe Ruth 714 2503  8399 2174 2873 506 136 2213 .342 .474 .690 1.164
3         Willie Mays 660 2992 10881 2062 3283 523 140 1903 .302 .384 .557  .941
4      Frank Robinson 586 2808 10006 1829 2943 528  72 1812 .294 .389 .537  .926
5    Harmon Killebrew 573 2435  8147 1283 2086 290  24 1584 .256 .376 .509  .884
6       Mickey Mantle 536 2401  8102 1676 2415 344  72 1509 .298 .421 .557  .977
7         Jimmie Foxx 534 2317  8134 1751 2646 458 125 1922 .325 .428 .609 1.038
8      Willie McCovey 521 2588  8197 1229 2211 353  46 1555 .270 .374 .515  .889
9        Ted Williams 521 2292  7706 1798 2654 525  71 1839 .344 .482 .634 1.116
10        Ernie Banks 512 2528  9421 1305 2583 407  90 1636 .274 .330 .500  .830
11      Eddie Mathews 512 2391  8537 1509 2315 354  72 1453 .271 .376 .509  .885
12            Mel Ott 511 2730  9456 1859 2876 488  72 1860 .304 .414 .533  .947
13         Lou Gehrig 493 2164  8001 1888 2721 534 163 1995 .340 .447 .632 1.080
14        Stan Musial 475 3026 10972 1949 3630 725 177 1951 .331 .417 .559  .976
15    Willie Stargell 472 2248  7794 1187 2198 415  55 1514 .282 .361 .531  .892
16     Billy Williams 426 2488  9350 1410 2711 434  88 1475 .290 .361 .492  .853
17   Carl Yastrzemski 419 2967 10811 1689 3109 586  57 1663 .288 .382 .469  .851
18     Reggie Jackson 410 1924  6863 1145 1874 345  41 1231 .273 .364 .514  .879
19        Duke Snider 407 2143  7161 1259 2116 358  85 1333 .295 .380 .540  .919

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/30/2012.

Today, Duke Snider's 407 HRs are only 48th All Time, and there are 25 players who have hit 500.

 

[Pine Tar]

I can say I seen about 70% of that list play!

 

[ThoseBackPages]

its disgusting how under appreciated Stargell is.

 

[MojoDan]

I consider Frank Robinson one of the most underrated myself Eric. Part of the reason that I buy him and Killebrew so much.

 

[ThoseBackPages]

I consider Frank Robinson one of the most underrated myself Eric. Part of the reason that I buy him and Killebrew so much.

oh, without a doubt you are right. his 1957 is not only a great looking card, it's very affordable, and from the set that ushered in the "popular" size of cards.

the thing with Pops is that his RC sells for a LOT less then Pete Rose, who is in the same set (and Stargell is actually a HIGER "number" in the set)

 

[nosterbor]

I look at that list and see that Juan Gonzalez had a better Slugging % than 80% of those on that list.

 

[ThoseBackPages]

I look at that list and see that Juan Gonzalez had a better Slugging % than 80% of those on that list.

lol

 

[sportscardtheory]

550 is the new benchmark for automatic Hall consideration (minus cheaters).

 

[ronfromfresno]

I still believe that those numbers mean something, at least to me anyways. The way I look at it that list includes very few players who played in the 30' and 40's, so the in the 30 years from 1950 to 1980 most of the top 20 list was populated. In the 30 years since 1980 the list has doubled, or another way to look at it, the list has grown at roughly the exact same rate as it did from 1950 to 1980.