Greatest home run hitters ever

Hank Aaron▲ Rising

No 60-homer season, no viral highlight reel of a single magical summer — just twenty-plus years of relentless, unglamorous consistency that ended with 755 home runs and the record standing for over three decades. He broke Ruth's mark in 1974 under a torrent of racist hate mail and death threats, and did it anyway, quietly, without ever hitting more than 47 in a single year. The definitive answer to 'greatest' if you value the whole body of work over the fireworks.

added by IJRin 4 rankingsHank Aaron

Barry Bonds▲ Rising

73 in a single season, 762 for a career — both records that still stand despite the cloud of BALCO hanging over them forever. In 2001 he turned Pac Bell Park into a personal launchpad, walking (and getting intentionally walked) at absurd rates because pitchers simply refused to let him beat them, and by the time he passed Aaron in 2007 the achievement felt more like an asterisk than a coronation. Statistically the most dominant power hitter who ever lived, and the most polarizing name on any version of this list.

added by IJRin 6 rankingsBarry Bonds

Albert Pujols▲ Rising

The most feared right-handed bat of the 2000s, Pujols announced himself with a Rookie of the Year season so absurd it looked like a typo, then kept mashing for two full decades until he crossed 700 homers in 2022 as a 42-year-old sentimental victory lap with the Cardinals. His three MVP awards and machine-like consistency through his Angels prime made him the model of sustained excellence in an era stained by suspicion. The cleanest 700-club member, and maybe the most underrated great of his generation.

added by IJRin 5 rankingsAlbert Pujols

Babe Ruth▲ Rising

He didn't just hit home runs, he invented the idea that they mattered — in 1919 he hit more than entire other teams combined, and by 1927 his 60 homers redefined what a season could look like. Ruth turned baseball from a small-ball, station-to-station game into the power sport we know today, and he did it while also being one of the best pitchers of his era. Every player on this list is chasing a shadow he cast a century ago.

added by IJRin 7 rankingsBabe Ruth

Ken Griffey Jr.▲ Rising

The smoothest swing in baseball history, a backwards cap, and a highlight reel of majestic upper-deck shots made 'Junior' the most beloved slugger of the 1990s, capped by a mid-'90s stretch chasing 60 homers that felt pure in an era that increasingly wasn't. Injuries in Cincinnati robbed him of the chance to chase 755 outright, but he still finished with 630 and a legacy untouched by scandal. The guy kids actually wanted to be, swing and all.

added by IJRin 5 rankingsKen Griffey Jr.

Willie Mays▼ Falling

The 'Say Hey Kid' hit 660 homers while also playing a center field so spectacular that The Catch in the 1954 World Series overshadows his own power numbers to this day. He lost nearly two full prime seasons to military service and still finished with a case as the most complete five-tool player baseball has ever produced. His inclusion here isn't just about the long balls — it's about being unable to talk about home run greatness without talking about the guy who made hitting them look like the least interesting thing he did.

added by IJRin 4 rankingsWillie Mays

Sammy Sosa▼ Falling

The 1998 home run chase against McGwire was a summer-long national obsession, and Sosa's charge to 66 homers — complete with the hop, the kiss, the chest-thump — made him a folk hero who arguably saved baseball's popularity after the '94 strike. Three separate 60-homer seasons cement absurd peak power, but Congress and a corked bat incident turned that joy into retroactive suspicion. Impossible to leave off, impossible to fully trust.

added by IJRin 2 rankingsSammy Sosa

Mark McGwire▼ Falling

Big Mac's 70 homers in 1998 shattered Roger Maris's hallowed single-season record and turned every one of his at-bats into must-watch TV, a titanic, red-faced assault on the record book that captivated the entire country. He later admitted to steroid use in a tearful, damage-control confession that recontextualized the whole spectacle as chemically assisted. The most electrifying single season of power hitting ever, permanently tangled up with the era's biggest scandal.

added by IJRin 2 rankingsMark McGwire