Career Home Run leaders for each MLB team – National League
You will be surprised just like I was
This will be the first of two posts
This season Manny Machado of the San Diego Padres hit his 167th career homer for the Friars, elevating him to first place on the all-time list of Padres home runs by a player. He eased by the late Nate Colbert (163) who played for the 1969 expansion team. When I thought about all-time Padres home run leaders, Dave Winfield’s name came to mind immediately as he hit 154 home runs as a Padre, yet that’s only good enough for fifth place as Adrian Gonzales (161) and Phil Nevin (156) are slightly ahead of him.
It made me wonder how I’d do if I had to guess the all-time HR leaders for every team. Going into it I feel there will be easy ones and then not so easy ones. So here goes. I will start with the National League today going division by division starting with the NL East in order of franchise tenure.
Which players lead the franchise for home runs with the team?
NL East
Braves – They are an old franchise dating back to the 1800s but it’s easy when Henry Aaron is around. Eddie Mathews would have to be second. Then it gets tougher. Chipper Jones, Dale Murphy, and Andruw Jones must be up there, and they are the next three after Mathews. I was pretty happy with myself.
Phillies – They too have been around for a long time. But besides Michael Jack Schmidt, it’s not as obvious. I know HOFer Chuck Klein played for them for a long time but did not think he was second. Ryan Howard? Yes! Howard’s 382 career homers, all for the Phils, are far away from Schmidt’s 548, but also far ahead of the third-place player Del Ennis (259) who is just ahead of Pat Burrell (251). Klein comes in fifth with 243.
Mets – Since I grew up and still am a Met fan, I knew Darryl Strawberry was number one with 252 and I knew Pete Alonso (226) had this season moved up to 3rd all-time for the team behind David Wright’s 242. If Alonso does resign with the Mets, he will almost certainly break the team record in 2025. I had to look up the rest as I did not inherently know that Mike Piazza (220), and Howard Johnson (192) round out the Met’s top five in that order.
Nationals – Hmm. Didn’t want to be tricked by Expos. Andre Dawson and Gary Carter come to mind. Could it be Tim Wallach? I have great respect for Wallach who’s very underrated. Ryan Zimmerman played for the Nationals for a long time and hit homers. Bryce Harper was too briefly a Nat to be up there, right? Well sort of. Somehow, I forgot HOFer Vlad Guerrero Sr. whose 234 Expos homers put him second to Zimmerman’s 284. Dawson (225), Carter (220), and Wallach (204) round out the top five. Harper is sixth with 184.
Marlins – Being one of the newer franchises (1993), they have had a few home run hitters like Gary Sheffield and Giancarlo Stanton, but it feels like neither of them played there long enough to have a bunch of homers as a Marlin. It turns out that Stanton (267) is indeed first on the list and he’s ahead by a country mile over second place holder Dan Uggla (154). Hanley Ramirez (148), Mike Lowell (143) and soon-to-be HOFer Miguel Cabrera (138) round out the top five. Stanton might hold this record for a long time.
The NL Central
Reds – Cincinnati has been around a long time, as have four out of the five NL Central teams. We can eliminate all the teams before the dead-ball era ended in 1920 since they didn’t hit home runs! We only need to concentrate on the last 100+ years. The Reds won the World Series in 1940 without an all-time masher on that team which had also reached the series in 1939 losing to the Yankees. Ted ‘Big Klu’ Kluszewski who played in the 1940’s and ‘50s comes to mind, cutoff jersey sleeves and all. He sure looked like he’d hit a bunch of homers! But since I know Johnny Bench played his entire career as a Red, I guessed him at number one, and that’s right with 389. I knew Joey Votto (356), also a career-Red would be high on the list and he’s number two. Frank Robinson (324) who I saw play as an Oriole but not a Red, is third. HOFer Tony Perez (287) is fourth with Adam Dunn (270) close behind. ‘Big Klu’ (251) is sixth.
Cubs – Another lay-up. A baseball nerd like me knows HOFer Ernie Banks hit 512 career homers all for Chicago. HOFer Billy Williams (392) had to be high on the list and he’s second. HOFer Ron Santo (337) played all but one of his seasons with the Cubs. Inexplicably he played his final season for the crosstown White Sox. Ryne Sandberg (282) played a long time almost entirely for the Cubs playing just 13 games for the Phillies at the outset of his career. Who else? How could I forget Sammy Sosa who hit 545 home runs for the Cubs! Current Yankee and former Cub Anthony Rizzo (242) is sixth on the list and destined to have his number retired one day at Wrigley.
Cardinals – Lots of great home run hitters to think about here. Career Redbird Stan Musial had 475 which is for some reason a number I remember. I knew recently retired Albert Pujols has over 600 career homers, most as a Cardinal, and he slots in right behind ‘Stan the Man’ at 469. Then it gets tougher. I thought of Jim Edmonds (241 and fourth) who played eight seasons for the Cardinals and hit lots of homers, but I did not remember that the late Ken Boyer (255) an almost HOFer, was third on the all-time homer list for St. Louis. I would have thought Mark McGwire (220) would be higher on the Cardinal’s all time homer list. Ray Lankford (228) checks in fifth place which I never would have guessed.
Pirates – I’m thinking it will be HOFer Willie Stargell on top right? HOFer Ralph Kiner had a shorter tenure but was a world-beater for those 10 years or so. Hey, would you look at this? Stargell had the exact same total of homers (475) for the Bucs than Stan Musial did for the Cardinals! Kiner checks in at number two with 301. Roberto Clemente (not known as a home run hitter) is third with 240. Barry Bonds was not the home run hitter he later became while with the Giants, but he still hit 176 putting him in fifth place behind current Pirate Andrew McCutcheon (235). ‘Cutch will have his number raised into retirement one day in Pittsburgh.
Brewers – It’s sort of not fair to include the Brewers in the NL Central conversation where they’ve been for 26 years since they began as the Seattle Pilots in the AL West in 1969 before being moved to Milwaukee to become the Brewers in 1970. They were there for the next 25 seasons before moving to the AL Central for three seasons. This makes them the only team to play in all three divisions in one league as well as one in the other league. Ah, home runs. Right. Who are the big-time Brewer home run hitters. Greg Vaughn? Gorman Thomas? Ben Ogilvie? HOF Robin Yount? Surprisingly, to me at least, first on the list is Ryan Braun (352) who had a better career than many including me, would care to admit. Yount comes in second with 251 and Prince Fielder with 230. Gorman Thomas (208) is fifth and longtime Brew Crew favorite Geoff Jenkins is fourth with 212. Ogilvie and Vaughn are in the top 10.
NL West
Giants – Using my powers of deduction, if Barry Bonds hit 176 for the Pirates and I remember Bonds has 763 career homers, that means he hit 587 for the Giants. That’s behind Willie Mays’ 646. Willie did hit 14 homers in his two years with the Mets. The Godfather Mays, and godson Bonds, are first and second. I know Mel Ott had 500 homers (511). He’s third. Willie McCovey? Yes, he’s fourth with 469. Because ‘Stretch’ finished his career with the Giants it’s easy to forget that he played three years for the Padres and one for the Oakland A’s. But really those were easy for a fan like me. After that I had guesses like Matt Williams and Will Clark. Williams had 247 and is fifth ahead of HOFer Orlando ‘Baby Bull’ Cepeda (226).
Dodgers – Dodger home run hitters aren’t immediately evident in numbers to me. Maybe it’s because they’ve played in notorious pitcher’s park Dodger Stadium for 63 years, only 10 years less than they did in Brooklyn but that goes back to 1884.
I know that HOFer teammates Duke Snider and Gil Hodges both hit more than 300 home runs playing nearly their entire careers with the Dodgers. Snider had 389 and Hodges 361. Would you have guessed Eric Karros (270) is third on the Dodger’s home run list? Not me. HOFer and two-time MVP Roy Campanella (242) is fourth and Ron Cey, another underrated third baseman with 228, is fifth.
Padres – It’s hard to believe the Padres are the third oldest franchise in the division. Now that we know Manny Machado is the all-time home run leader for the franchise with a measly 167, I immediately think of HOFer Dave Winfield. An original Padre Nate Colbert was a feared home run hitter but thinking of other Padre home run hitters was tough. Adrian Gonzalez (161) turns up third and Phil Nevin (156) is fourth. Winfield played eight seasons for San Diego and hit 154 of his 465 career homers. If you’re curious Tony Gwynn is sixth with 135. Machado’s 167 is the lowest total in MLB for a team’s most prodigious home run hitter.
Rockies – It’s Colorado so there have been tons of home runs! Let’s see, Larry Walker is a HOFer and hit homers for sure but played 10 of his 17 career seasons with the Rockies. He’s second with 258 to recently elected HOFer Todd Helton’s 369. I expected to see Vinny Castilla’s name here and sure enough he’s third with 239. Nolan Arenado (235) and Carlos Gonzalez (227) round out the top five. Charlie Blackmon is only three behind Gonzalez as of this writing.
Diamondbacks – This one will confound me for sure. I know Steve Finley hit more than 300 career homers, but he also played for a bunch of teams. And Justin Upton was a big-time power threat for the Snakes for a few years but not that long. Number one on the list is Luis Gonzalez with 224, another overlooked player for Cooperstown. I did not have that in mind. Former D’Back Paul Goldschmidt is second with 209, Finley (153), current players Christian Walker (145) and Ketel Marte (135) round out the top five. Either one of those players has a chance to take over the franchise lead for career home runs while a member of the team.
I will do the American League (the junior circuit) next on Monday instead of next Wednesday.
About the Author: Mark Kolier along with his son Gordon co-hosts a baseball podcast called ‘Almost Cooperstown’. He also has written baseball-related articles that can be accessed on Medium.com and Substack.com.