The State of Home Runs

We're going to get back to all-Gold Glove teams here in the next few days, but I found the Nevada home run chart to be so interesting (Marty Cordova has the Top 7 spots) that I figured I might as well run every state's season home run leader. It's easy using the Baseball Reference Play Index. Here we go:

Alabama: George Foster and Willie Mays, 52.
Alabama has an amazing baseball history -- I count 11 different players from Alabama that have hit 30-plus homers in a season including: Foster, Mays, Hank Aaron, Willie McCovey, Billy Williams, Lee May, Rudy York, my hero Andre Thornton, the amazing Bo Jackson, Oscar Gamble and Butch Hobson. Hard to imagine any state -- even California and Florida -- can match that group.

Alaska: Josh Phelps, 20.
Until Phelps came along, the record belonged to Randy Kutcher, who hit 7 homers in 1986.

Arizona: Hank Lieber, 24.
Forgot all about Arizona in the original posting of this blog, which is a shame because you would have to say this is one underachieving state. Hank Lieber hit 24 homers in 1939, and no Arizonan has surpassed him. Chris Duncan looks like the best bet among active players. The best player up to now born in Arizona is probably either Billy Hatcher or John Denny.

Arkansas: Pat Burrell, 37.
The home of Brooks Robinson, Dizzy Dean. Also, Johnny Sain and Rick Monday always gets me down.

California: Barry Bonds, 73*
Followed by Mark McGwire's 70*. Until the home run era, California's home run leader was Cecil Fielder with 51.

Colorado: Johnny Frederick, 24.
Post World War II, the record is held by the estimable John Stearns with 15. People talk about baseball cards that seemed to come in every pack -- how about that record breaker John Stearns card, the one that celebrated his record for stolen bases by a catcher. I must have gotten 284 of those.

Connecticut: Mo Vaughn, 44.
Big Mo has nine of the top 11 spots, the other two belong to Walt Dropo. Jim Piersall is on the list as well, which reminds me of a time years ago when Piersall was some sort of roving instructor for the Cubs and used to sit with us in the press box at Charlotte Knights games. He was ranting at us over something or other -- he loved to rant -- until finally somebody yelled at him, "Ah shut up Piersall, your Dad's Karl Malden."

Delaware: Kevin Mench, 26.
I don't think there was a single player in baseball that former Royals general manager Allard Baird coveted more than Kevin Mench. Seriously, he would PINE for Kevin Mench. Maybe he just loves people from Delaware, and Delino DeShields wasn't available.

District of Columbia: Don Money, 25.
Another of the Baseball Card Repeat All Stars, he and Sixto Lezcano seemed to be in every pack in 1977. Money has the Top 8 spots, followed by Lu Blue.

Florida: Luis Gonzalez, 57.
Interestingly, there are all sorts of fluke seasons near the top of the Florida list -- you have Gonzalez's 57 homer season, you have Andre Dawson's 49 from that goofy 1987 season and you have Davey Johnson's crazy 43 homer season in 1973. OK, well, I think it's interesting.

Georgia: Johnny Mize, 51.
The Big Cat and The Big Hurt (Frank Thomas) make up the Top 9 spots.

Hawaii: Mike Lum, 16.
Hawaii has done better with pitching -- that list includes Charlie Hough, Ron Darling and Milt Wilcox.

Idaho: Harmon Killebrew 49.
The Killer has the Top 13 spots from the Gem State. After that comes Vance Law. Idaho's motto is Esto Perpetua, which means "Let it be perpetual." I think we all can learn a little something from that.

Illinois: Jim Thome, 52.
Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen feels quite strongly that Indians fans should not boo Jim Thome. In fact, he feels like they should cheer Thome. In fact, he's in favor of Indians fans cheering all the White Sox players. In fact, he would like them from now on to boo their own players. Shawn Green is second in homers and, if you want to go back to the days before the home run rush, you will find The Big Klu, Ted Kluszewski, with 49 in 1954.

Indiana: Chuck Klein, 43.
Gil Hodges is second with 42. Great list of Indiana ballplayers includes Cy Williams, Don Mattingly, Scott Rolen and one of my all-time favorites, Ron Kittle.

Iowa: Hal Trosky, 42.
After I wrote a column about the magic of Iowa (in honor or Cedar Rapids native and Masters winner Zach Johnson), I got an email from a nice woman from Cedar Rapids named Grace Sharington. She said that she has written two songs for the Scorpions, and she pointed out that other Cedar Rapids' natives include her friend Kurt Warner, her old classmate Elijah Wood and, more recently, Ashton Kutcher. By the way, Trosky and Casey Blake fill the Top 8 Iowa spots.

Kansas: Bob Horner, 35.
The pride of Junction City. Other Kansas' home run leaders include Newton's Tony Clark, Wichita's Don Lock and Arkansas City's Darren Daulton.

Kentucky: Jay Buhner, 44.
For the longest time, the record belonged to Don Hurst, who hit 31 homers in 1929 at the age of 23. He actually seemed on his way to a brilliant career -- he hit .339 and drove in 143 runs in 1932. Then when he was 28, he was traded to the Cubs, hit .199 in 51 games, and never played another game in the Major Leagues. Weird.

Louisiana: Albert Belle, 50.
Some great sluggers on this list as well -- Belle, Joe Adcock, Mel Ott, Will Clark, Vernon Wells, Reggie Smith. There has been some amazing talent to come out of the American South.

Maine: Del Bissonette, 24.
Extra value is what you get with Big Del Bissonnette. He has the Top 4 Maine spots and would have a lot more except for injuries. The biggest Maine home run hitter the last 75 years would be Ron Tingley, who hit four homers in 1995.

Maryland: Babe Ruth, 60.
How about Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx and Brady Anderson all being from Maryland?

Massachusetts: Jeff Bagwell, 47.
Yeah, that Red Sox trade really didn't work out too well. How many homers do we think Bags would have hit in Fenway Park? After Bagwell, the all-time Mass home run hitter is also the all-time Royals home run hitter -- Steve Balboni with 36 homers in 1985.

Michigan: John Mayberry, 34.
Big John makes the fourth great home run hitter whose nickname begins with "Big." Not too original, is it? I've got a million Big John stories, but we still have a lot of states left. Incidentally, second on the list is Stan Lopata -- and according to his bio, he is both a decorated World War II veteran and the first catcher to wear glasses. That's quite a combo.

Minnesota: Roger Maris, 61.
The rest of the Top 24 is made up of Maris, Dave Winfield, Terry Steinbach, Kent Hrbek and one big season for Walt Moryn.

Mississippi: Ellis Burks, 40.
George Scott is second with 36 -- I probably should have had the Boomer as my Gold Glove first baseman for the Red Sox since he did win eight Gold Gloves. But I was persuaded by Bill James defensive Win Shares -- which rated Scott a C+ first baseman -- that he was overrated. I don't know the answer there; it's tough to rank first basemen defensively. Bill Hall and Dave Parker are also on the Mississippi list.

Missouri: Ryan Howard, 58.
He blew right past St. Louis' Roy Sievers, who hit 42 homers in 1957. Others on the list include St. Louis' Nate Colbert, Kansas City's Bob Allison (well, Raytown, which is the same thing), Atherton's Walker Cooper, Liberty's Ken Boyer, Jefferson City's Joe Crede and St. Louis' Bernard Gilkey. Only THEN do you get to Yogi Berra.

Montana: John Lowenstein, 24.
I believe it was Lowenstein who first suggested moving first base a foot closer to home plate to eliminate all the close plays. Some other Lowenstein quotes from "Voices of Baseball:"

-- "Sure, I screwed up that sacrifice bunt. But look at it this way: I'm a better bunter than a billion Chinese. Those poor suckers can't bunt at all."
-- (On Goose Gossage) "He can make the ball look so small that you're not even sure there's a practical purpose for being up there."
-- "The secret to keeping winning streaks going is to maximize the victories while at the same time minimizing the defeats."

Nebraska: Bob Cerv, 38.
If you ever happen to be in St. Paul, Nebraska -- and I will bet that's the only time you will read those words today -- you should definitely stop by the Nebraska Major League Baseball Museum. It's small, sure, but it's a loving tribute to Nebraska baseball. It includes exhibits featuring the five Nebraska players in the Hall of Fame: Omaha's Wade Boggs, Tilden's Richie Asburn, Wahoo's Sam Crawford (known, surprisingly enough, as "Wahoo Sam Crawford"), Elba's Pete Alexander and Omaha's Bob Gibson. And there are plaques for every single Nebraska Major Leaguer. It's a neat place.

Cerv, incidentally, is one of those players who had his career stolen from him because of the reserve clause. He came up smack in the middle of the New York Yankees dynasty of the 1950s, and could not break through. The Yankees did not give him any at-bats, and they did not trade him until 1957, when he was 31. He smashed 38 homers for the KC A's when he was 32.

Nevada: Marty Cordova, 24.
Maybe Barry Zito will make the list now that he's in the National League.

New Hampshire: Phil Plantier, 34.
He hit 34 homers when he was 24, cut it almost perfectly in half to 18 the next year, cut it in half to nine the next year and cut it in half to four the next year. I just thought that was kind of interesting. Red Rolfe is third on the list with 14 homers.

New Jersey: Goose Goslin, 37.
Erik Karros dominates the Top 10 -- he's joined by Earl Williams, Joe Medwick and, the mayor, Sean Casey. Derek Jeter is 13th on the list with 24 homers in 1999.

New Mexico: Ralph Kiner, 54.
Ralph Kiner and Vern Stephens make up the entire Top 20. My favorite Kinerism was definitely (I'm paraphrasing), "It's Father's Day, so to all you fathers out there, happy birthday!" I was listening to that one live -- my friend Robert was a huge Mets fan -- and I about spit up my Diet Coke (actually, I'll bet I drank regular Coke then).

New York: Hank Greenberg, 58.
OK, it's not a bad list -- Greenberg, Lou Gehrig, Alex Rodriguez, Rocky Colavito, Yaz. Here's a trivia question for you: Who holds the Mets record for most homers in a season by a native New Yorker? Don't go looking it up ... I'll tell you when we get to Vermont.

North Carolina: Jim Ray Hart and Jimmie Hall, 33.
A guy named "Jim Ray" should be the North Carolina all-time home run leader. Being a North Carolinian at heart myself -- since I went to high school and college there -- I have to say I'm a bit disappointed by the North Carolina power hitter list. But it did remind me why Jim Piersall went off on the aforementioned rant; someone had asked him why Winston-Salem native Mark Grace didn't hit for more power. That's what led Piersall to shout, "More power? You sportswriters kill me. The guy hit .314 last year. What do you think you would hit in the big leagues?"

This led someone to say: "About .350." Which led Piersall to go even more bananas. Which led to the, "Aw shut up Piersall, your Dad's Karl Malden."

North Dakota: Travis Hafner, 42.
I guess I thought Roger Maris was born in North Dakota, but he was actually born in Hibbing, Minnesota (seems like a singer/songwriter of some renown was born there also, not to mention Kevin McHale, Vince Bugliosi, gay porn director Chi Chi LaRue) and moved to North Dakota as a young child. That leaves the top spot for Hafner, born in Jamestown. Darrin Erstad is also on the list, as is Ken Hunt, who hit 25 homers in 1961 and eight homers the rest of his career.

Ohio: Mike Schmidt and Frank Howard, 48.
My Dad loves Frank Howard -- for years, he would tell me about some immense foul ball he saw Howard hit once. It got me to thinking about the hardest hit balls I've ever seen. Off the top of my head I would have to say: (1) A homer that Mark McGwire hit off of Glendon Rusch. It was hit so hard and so far that afterward you could tell Rusch was almost proud to be part of it. (2) A homer that Van Snider hit in the minor league game when Bo Jackson hit his first professional home run. I just remember that the pitcher, whoever he was, knocked Snider down with two pitches in a row, and Snider was hot. He hit the next ball like 800 feet. (3) A homer that Russell Branyan hit off the Royals in a spring training game back at Baseball City. It was impressive.

Oklahoma: Mickey Mantle, 52.
How about a Top 10 featuring Mantle, Johnny Bench, Willie Stargell and Joe Carter. That's really not too bad. Oklahoma has an amazing baseball history, really. It would be tough to beat an Oklahoma All-Star Team.

1B: Willie Stargell, Earlsboro.
2B: Johnny Ray, Chouteau.
SS: Alvin Dark, Comanche
3B: Harlond Clift, ElReno
C: Johnny Bench, Oklahoma City.
OF: Paul Waner, Harrah
OF: Mickey Mantle, Spavinaw.
OF: Joe Carter, Oklahoma City.
Backup catcher: Mickey Tettleton, Oklahoma City.
Utility: U.L. Washington, Stringtown or Jerry Adair, Sand Springs.
Defensive outfielder: Paul Blair, Cushing.
Pinch hitter: Bobby Murcer, Oklahoma City or Lloyd Waner, Harrah.

Pitchers: Allie Reynolds, Bethany; Ralph Terry, Big Cabin, Lindy McDaniel, Hollis. And then we might cheat a bit and put two pitchers not born in Oklahoma but who always called Oklahoma home -- Carl Hubbell and Warren Spahn.

Manager: Bobby Cox, Tulsa.

Not bad. Not bad at all. That team could probably hold its own against any state in the Union.

Oregon: Dave Kingman, 48.
Richie Sexson, Dale Murphy and John Jaha make up the bulk of the list. I remember the year Kingman hit those 48 homers, he had 29 at the All-Star break, and at the time that just seemed mind boggling. We really thought he might break Maris' record. Later that month, he hit 5 homers in two games against the Mets -- he hated the Mets. By August 10, he had 39 homers (he was just two behind Maris' pace!). Then he cooled off. He did end up hitting .364 with nine homers in 17 games against the Mets.

Pennyslyvania: Ken Griffey, 56.
How about Ken Griffey and Stan Musial both being born in Donora? Reggie, Roy Campanella, Mike Piazza, Dick Allen -- Penn holds its own.

Rhode Island: Paul Konerko, 41.
Gabby Hartnett is third on the list with 37 homers in 1930. Davey Lopes is here too.

South Carolina: Jim Rice, 46.
It looks like the Jim Rice Hall of Fame train has really started to move ... I think he will get voted in now. I still don't see him as a Hall of Famer, but a lot of smart people around baseball tell me I'm just flat wrong. Gorman Thomas is on the list, as is Al Rosen. I had no idea Al Rosen was born in South Carolina.

South Dakota: Mark Ellis, 13.
Yikes. Couldn't North Dakota trade them someone like Darren Erstad? Terry Francona is on this list -- and did you know Francona never hit more than three homers in a season?

Tennessee: Todd Helton, 49.
Daddy Wags, Leon Wagner, is on the list, which should be a cue for me to tell a Wags story from my book Soul of Baseball (since this is a promotional blog). But everyone seems tired of me pushing the book. Steve Finley is on the list as is Jim Hickman, an original New York Met, who banged 32 homers for the Cubs in 1970.

Texas: Frank Robinson, 49.
Frank Robinson, Ernie Banks, Eddie Mathews, Adam Dunn, Lance Berkman and a personal favorite, Gus Zernial make up the Top 11.

Utah: Duke Sims, 23.
Chris Shelton has a chance to take the top spot from the irrepressible Sims, who until 2002 had all Top 10 spots.

Vermont: Carlton Fisk, 37.
It's Fisks-away -- the first nine spots belong to him. In fact, Fisk and Pat Putnam have every one of the Top 22. ... We owe you an answer to the Aflac Trivia question. Aflac. Ask about it at work. The question was: Who holds the Mets record for most homers in a season by a native New Yorker? The answer: Bobby Bonilla. He was born in the Bronx, and he hit a career high 34 homers for the Mets in 1993.

Virginia: Todd Hundley, 41.
Jim Lemon is second with the 38 homers he hit in 1960. Then he got hurt and was never the same. Willie Horton is on the list too.

Washington: Ryne Sandberg, 40.
I have a friend -- a Cardinals fan, naturally -- who despises Ryne Sandberg. I mean, she readily admits that it's an unhealthy dislike, but she can't help it. She can't stand the guy. Sandberg does seem like one of those players (sort of like Duke basketball players) who rile up deep emotions in people, both love and hate. Geoff Jenkins is second on the list, and Ron Santo who just can't get that Hall of Fame nod is third.

West Virginia: George Brett, 30.
I can see the finish line, so no Brett stories for now. Toby Harrah, another childhood hero, is second on the list. And further down you can see Bill Mazeroski.

Wisconsin: Andy Pafko and Al Simmons, 36.
Here's a weird side note about The Boys Of Summer -- which is my favorite baseball book. The first half of the book is, of course, about those great Brooklyn Dodgers seasons, and the second half features Roger Kahn going back to find out what happened to the boys of summer (I can tell you my love for you will still be strong after the boys of summer are gone). And I remember reading the book the first time when I was like 15, and there was a chapter on what happened to Andy Pafko, and I thought: "Andy Pafko? Who is Andy Pafko? Was he even mentioned in the first half of the book?"

Wyoming: Mike Devereaux, 24.
Kind of a downer way to end, but, hey, I didn't invent the alphabet. John Buck could conceivably have a big year and knock Devereaux off his Wyoming perch.