Home Run King Used to be a Big Deal
circa 1935: Babe Ruth (George Herman Ruth, 1895 - 1948) American professional baseball player signs a new two year contract with the 'New York Yankees'. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images)
Being the MLB Home Run King used to be a big deal. To own the title of MLB home run leader for a season or a career made a player into a house hold name. But I’ll bet the majority of people reading this cannot name who the 2023 home run leader was! And names like Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron stood the test of time. Back in the day every kid could fire off home run stats for Ruth, Aaron and many more off the top of their head.
Then Barry Bonds happened. He shattered the single season and career home run marks during his career. But many people are convinced he did it by cheating with performance enhancing drugs. He became the new Home Run King. That’s when people stopped caring about lofty home run records.
REAL HOME RUN KING
Well, on this day in 1974 Hank Aaron tied Babe Ruth’s all-time home run mark with 714. He would later set the record he owned alone until Bonds came along.
So today, we will do home run trivia and remember a time when Home Run King used to be a big deal on Craig Shemon and Company on ESPN Southwest Florida.
HOME RUN KING TRIVIA
- Who did Hank Aaron play for when he became the Home Run King? Atlanta Braves
- What was the most HR’s Babe Ruth hit in a season? 1927 he hit 60.
- In the 1990’s what which Cardinal and Cub battled every year for the HR title? Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa
- Who was the first player ever to register 3 60 HR seasons? Sammy Sosa
- Name the only two players to reach 70 HR’s in a season? Mark McGuire and Barry Bonds
- What father-son duo has the most career HR’s? Bobby and Barry Bonds with 1094 (Barry 762)
- What father-son duo both had exactly 319 career HR’s? Cecil and Prince Fielder with 319 each
- Who was the MLB HR leader last season? Matt Olson Braves 54
- Who is the current MLB HR leader with 5? Mookie Betts
- What pitcher has given up the most career HR’s? Jaimie Moyer gave up 522 and pitched 25 years and won 269 games.
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4 Bold Predictions For The 2024 MLB Season
We’ve officially made it to Major League Baseball’s opening day. And we’ve got four bold predictions for the 2024 MLB season.
Last year felt like a nice setup for this season to really hit one out of the park, so to speak. 2023 saw the new MLB rules take hold. This was notable with the pitch clock and the attempt to speed up the game. The looming question of what’s next for Shohei Ohtani was lingering all year. Obviously the uncommon pitcher/hitter superstar chose to stay in southern California, but headed to move over to the Dodgers.
A consistent, no-frills style of baseball led the Texas Rangers to defeat a young and scrappy Arizona Diamondbacks in the World Series. Both have similar rosters this year, but will either team be as good?
What Are Some 2024 MLB Points Of Intrigue?
We are already off to a unique start with the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers splitting the Seoul Series in Korea. We are certainly teed up for an exciting seven months of baseball.
Some factors came close to finding their way into my four bold predictions, but were not strong enough to grab a spot in the lineup. However, they do remain open questions for baseball fans to look out for as the season unfolds.
In New York, will the Yankees adding the fierce bat of Juan Soto to the team bounce them back from a disappointing season? Soto may have to make up for the lack of depth at pitching now the Cy Young winner, Gerrit Cole is starting the season injured.
In Atlanta, the Braves are so talented across the board, it’s hard to pick against them in all of the National League. However, I do expect some epic NL East clashes throughout the year between division rivals, the Braves and Philadelphia Phillies.
We shall see about all of the above. In the meantime, let’s hit some 2024 MLB bold predictions to get the ball rolling.
Craig Shemon has been hosting afternoons on ESPN Southwest Florida since 2017. Prior to that he was a nationally syndicated host in Los Angeles at FOX Sports Radio and in Houston at Yahoo! Sports Radio. Along the way Craig did play-by-play for the NFL on FOX, NFL Europe, Big Ten Network, and The Citadel Radio Network. Craig is a native Detroiter and Indiana University graduate. He has been known to proudly display his Detroit and IU fandom on the air. Craig likes to write about athletes, create quizzes, and covers big sports headlines.