Whites Who Could Join 500 Home Run Club

[Don Wassall]

In the past quarter century nine players have reached the milestone of 500 career home runs, but only two have been white -- Mike Schmidt and Mark McGwire. (Rafael Palmeiro, a very light-skinned Cuban, was another.)


But there are nine white sluggerscurrently playing who have a legitimate shot at 500. The only shoo-in is Jim Thome, who has an outside shot at joining Babe Ruth as the second white player to hit more than 600 homers. The rest need to remain productive into at least their late 30s, while Mike Piazza would need to be effective into his early 40s.


Jim Thome - 36 years old -- 472 career home runs


Mike Piazza -- 38 -- 419


Chipper Jones -- 35 -- 357


Jason Giambi -- 36 -- 350


Jim Edmonds -- 36 -- 350


Troy Glaus -- 30 -- 257


Scott Rolen -- 32 -- 253


Paul Konerko -- 30 -- 245


Lance Berkman -- 31 -- 225


Oddly, all of them except Thome are on roughly the same pace; all could eventuallyreach 500 or none might, and anything in between. My favorite player over the last 15 years, Jeff Bagwell, retired prematurely with 449 HR due to shoulder problems. There are a number of all-time great white starting pitchersand relieverscurrently playing including the best pitcher ever, Roger Clemens; it would begreat to see them joined by a contingent of white power hitters with at least 500 home runs.Edited by: Don Wassall

 

[white is right]

Piazza will probably fall short as he is slowing down, I thought Jones was a bit younger than that. I doubt Giambi will make it or Edmonds. Glaus is on track if his body doesn't give out on him. Thome has a legit shot at 600 hundred if his body holds up.....

 

[Bear-Arms]

Piazza has more home runs than any other catcher in the history of baseball though, right?

 

[Baseball Fan]

I would say three since Palmeiro is white, but he is a fraud so he probably shouldn't count anyway.

 

[white is right]

Piazza has more home runs than any other catcher in the history of baseball though, right?

Yes, he is probably a lock for the hall off of that alone.

 

[BrianLeonard23]

Are there any young hitters who are making their mark on the game?

 

[riggo]

"My favorite player over the last 15 years, Jeff Bagwell..."

Mine too!

 

[PitBull]

The bad part about a lot of white players today is that they go to college,
thus shortening the number of their prime career years, as opposed to, shall
we say, other populations.

 

[White_Savage]

The secret of why there are few Whites in the 500 homers club is discipline and consistency, traits which ironically make White hitters more valuable more often.

Let's look at something though. The best ratio of at bats/homeruns is held by MacGwire, better than Ruth, Bonds, or Aaron. But Babe Ruths own ratio is better than that of Bonds or Aaron. The ratio is surely the most fair measure of a hitter's ability to hit home runs, and seems to dismiss the idea of Black superiority at the endeavor.

So why then have FEWER Whites racked up big homerun numbers, even though the BEST homerun hitters by the most fair measure have been White? Because trying to be a homerun king is not the best strategy for winning the most games most of the time. Steve Sailer has demonstrated that while Blacks are known for homers and Hispanics are known for high batting averages, Whites actually get on base more often than either. This involves discipline, and not swinging at the fences for every piece of crap pitch. This ability to stick to a fundamentally sound game plan as opposed to going for glitz may strike some as boring, but for every Barry Bonds long baller, there are probably a 100 players, especially Blacks, striking out and never learning to hit consistently because they are trying to be the next Sultan Swat. Then, it's time for the media to make up excuses about Blacks not being able to afford gloves and bats...

 

[PitBull]

Don't forget about all the white superstars who took time out to fight our
wars. Ted Williams lost 5 years. Mays and Aaron were holding on to try
to break the record. Aaron played 22 years, Mays 23 years. Today's
players are lucky to play 15. That's only 2/3 as long. Frank Robinson
played 20 years. Willie McCovey played 22 years. Bonds is on 21 years.
these guys were holding on to break Ruth's record. Griffey Jr. is on his
19th season. Reggie Jackson played 19 years. Mantle and Williams only
played 18 years. Ruth played 17 years I think as an outfielder. Eddie
Matthews played 16-17 years. I don't want to count the other steroid
guys like like Sosa and Palmeiro. Being educated (college) and humble
(bowing out while you can still play decently) is a white thing.

FWIW, I think Griffey Jr. is on roids. I think so because of all his injuries
and because he had diverticulitis, which, though not proof, goes
along with roid use. Edited by: PitBull

 

[Freedom]

Don't forget Gehrig's terminal illness too. He could've had 700 too.

Mantle drank too much and squandered his athleticism later in life. So did Ruth. He could've hit 40-50 homers for a couple years longer if he didn't wolf down hot dogs and drink(illegally) so much in his career.Edited by: Freedom

 

[jaxvid]

Don't forget Gehrig's terminal illness too. He could've had 700 too.

Mantle drank too much and squandered his athleticism later in life. So did Ruth. He could've hit 40-50 homers for a couple years longer if he didn't wolf down hot dogs and drink(illegally) so much in his career.

I strongly disagree. Both Mantle and Ruth had typical careers before steroids. Ruth played until 40 when his skill degraded with age as is normal.

Ruth's last 5 years, he played until he was 40 and at 39 put up a decent 22 homers. Playing until you are 40 in 1935 was pretty good, the average life expectancy was probably about 55. If Ruth lost any home runs it was early in his career when he not only was primarily a pitcher but the average homeruns was in the single digits. There were no 50-60 homerun years left for him at that age in that era.

1931 36 NYY AL 46
1932 37 NYY AL 41&nbs p;
1933 38 NYY AL 34
1934 39 NYY AL 22
1935 40 BSN NL6

Mantle only played until he was 36 but he had some long term injury problems. He played in one of the worst hitting eras and he refused to be an average player after being the best in the game. His 18 homeruns was not bad for that era for a 36 year old. He could have tacked a few more 10-15 homerun years onto his career total like Mays did but what was the point? I think the fact that the Yankees sucked at the time had more then anything to do with why he left the game early.

1964 32 NYY AL 35
1965 33 NYY AL 19
1966 34 NYY AL 23
1967 35 NYY AL 22
1968 36 NYY AL 18

 

[Don Wassall]

I agree. Mantle and Ruth lived lives that were typical of the times in which they lived. Up until the 1970s, many pro athletes smoked cigarettes, because it was commonplace. Condemning them from today's neo-puritan perspective is pointless. It's the anti-white media's compulsion to tear down all white heroes that leads to revisionist views of their careers. So Ruth "wolfed down hot dogs." Better he do that than all the cocaine, weed and other substances so many of today's affletes are fond of ingesting.


And Gehrig "700 homers"? He had played 17 seasons and was 36 years old when he became ill.

 

[Don Wassall]

Another thing to keep in mind is that the mania with numbers and "breaking records" is a recent phenomenon. I highly doubt there were any ceremonies when Ruth hit number 500, 600 or 700. So many of baseball and football's individual and career records have been smashed because those sports were much more team-oriented in the past than they are today, when we routinelywitness wide receivers publicly pouting when they don't get their allotted number of receptions per game, even if they are meaningless two-yard plays. Athletes in the past simply didn't care aboutindividual statisticslike they do now.

 

[sport historian]

Another thing to keep in mind is that the mania with numbers and "breaking records" is a recent phenomenon.  I highly doubt there were any ceremonies when Ruth hit number 500, 600 or 700.  So many of baseball and football's individual and career records have been smashed because those sports were much more team-oriented in the past than they are today, when we routinely witness wide receivers publicly pouting when they don't get their allotted number of receptions per game, even if they are meaningless two-yard plays.  Athletes in the past simply didn't care about individual statistics like they do now.  <!-- Message ''"" -->

The mania about statistics started in a big way in the 1970's. I recall LA Dodger star Steve Garvey talking about breaking Joe Dimaggio's 56 game hitting streak. Garvey would say during his many interviews during the mid-70's, "It would be good for baseball."

Pete Rose made a run at Dimaggio's record during this time and talked about breaking Cobb's record of base hits constantly. O.J. Simpson boasted of the records he wanted to break and his "numbers" all the time.

 

[Gary]

Don't forget Ralph Kiner of the Pirates he led the NL in HR's 7 times [1946-1952]. He missed 3 full seasons because of being in the Navy during WW2. In his 10 seasons he hit 369HR's. His homerun ratio was 1 in every 7 times at bat. 369 homeruns in 10 years would be 738 in 20 years. Aaron played 23 years and hit 755, so Kiner would have only needed 17 HR's in 3 years just to tie his record. Aaron led the NL in HR's 4 times in 23 years-Ralph Kiner led the NL in HR's 7 times in 10 years!!

 

[Don Wassall]

Ralph Kiner picked up where Babe Ruth left off after World War II. He led the National League in home runs for seven straight seasons starting in 1946! What a feat! Then he went into a steep decline and for inexplicable reasons (at least from this vantage point in time) was out of baseball at age 32. He was what is now referred to as a "beast" -- and then some.


http://www.baseball-reference.com/k/kinerra01.shtml

 

[Sean]

Ralph Kiner picked up where Babe Ruth left off after World War II.  He led the National League in home runs for seven straight seasons starting in 1946!  What a feat!  Then he went into a steep decline and for inexplicable reasons (at least from this vantage point in time) was out of baseball at age 32.  He was what is now referred to as a "beast" -- and then some. 


http://www.baseball-reference.com/k/kinerra01.shtml

Kiner injured his back somehow in World War II. He reaggrivated it, which is why he was, unfortunately, forced out of baseball.

 

[remark22]

After tonights game against the Yankees, big Jim Thome is only 20 away from 500. He can easily accomplish that this year, good luck to him.

 

[Don Wassall]

Of the white sluggers mentioned in the original post to this thread a year ago, Thome of course hit his 500th home run and has a chance for 600 if he stays healthy and productive a few more seasons. If so he would be the second most prolific white power hitter after Babe Ruth.


Of the others mentioned who have a shot for 500, after the 2007 season I would categorize Chipper Jones and Lance Berkman as long shots, and Jason Giambi as an even longer shot. Piazza, Edmonds, Glaus, Rolen and Konerko are the longest of long shots. We need some young white power hitters to rise to the top. The American League in particular is almost barren of big-time white home run hitters.

 

[Realgeorge]

Killebrew. Allison. Yastrzemski. Conigliaro. Cash. Kaline. Howard. Powell. Robinson (Brooks). Murcer.

Oops, that was 1968, not 2008.