List of Major League Baseball all-time leaders in home runs by pitchers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wes Ferrell holds both the career and season records for home runs by a pitcher.
In baseball, a home run (HR) is typically a fair hit that passes over an outfield fence or into the stands at a distance from home plate of 250 feet or more, which entitles the batter to legally touch all bases and score without liability.[1][2] Atypically, a batter who hits a fair ball and touches each base in succession from 1st to home, without an error being charged to a defensive player, is credited with an inside-the-park home run.[3][4] If, during a play, defensive or fan interference is called, and the awarded bases allow the batter to cross home plate, the batter is credited with a home run.[3][5]
Wes Ferrell holds the all-time Major League Baseball record for home runs hit while playing the position of pitcher. He hit 37 as a pitcher.[6]Baseball Hall of FamersBob Lemon and Warren Spahn are tied for second with 35 career home runs apiece.[7][8]Red Ruffing, Earl Wilson, and Don Drysdale are the only other pitchers to hit at least 25 home runs.[9][10][11]Jack Stivetts hit a total of 35 home runs in his playing career, 21 as a pitcher.[12]
As of the 2020 season, Madison Bumgarner, with 19 home runs, holds the lead among all active pitchers. Bumgarner also has hit the second most home runs by a pitcher since the American League adopted the designated hitter rule in 1973 (behind Carlos Zambrano). Bumgarner has played his most of his career thus far for the San Francisco Giants of the National League, and is currently playing for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Ferrell also holds the single-season record for home runs by a pitcher, with nine, a mark that he reached in 1931.[6] The record had previously been held by Stivetts, who had hit seven in 1890.[12] Since 1931, six different pitchers have hit seven home runs in a season: Ferrell, Lemon, Don Newcombe, Don Drysdale (twice), Wilson, and Mike Hampton.[6][7][10][11][13][14]
Babe Ruth started his major league career as a pitcher before moving to the outfield. Only 14 of his 714 career home runs were hit as a pitcher, however.[15]
The first pitcher to officially hit a home run was Jack Manning, who accomplished the feat on August 3, 1876.[16] The most home runs by a pitcher in a single game is three, achieved by Jim Tobin on May 13, 1942.[17]
Hit two home runs in consecutive at-bats against the San Diego Padres on April 2, 2019—a three-run homer off of Eric Lauer in the fourth, and a solo shot off Adam Warren in the sixth. This happened exactly two years after Bumgarner's two-home run opening day game, a game in which he hit one of his home runs off of Greinke.
Has hit 7 career home runs, but only 4 while playing in the pitcher position. While Lorenzen sometimes plays outfield, his other 3 home runs were as a pinch hitter. Lorenzen hit home runs on back-to-back nights against the Milwaukee Brewers in 2018—a solo home run as pitcher on June 29, and a grand slam as a pinch hitter on June 30.
Hit a home run as one of his two third-inning hits against the Braves on July 18, 2019. He was only the fifth pitcher in the last 50 years to record two hits in the same MLB inning.