The 50 Home Run Club Trivia Quiz

Answer: Babe Ruth

Ruth revolutionized the power game in baseball. His 54 home runs in 1920 almost doubled the previous record of 29 which he set the previous season. By comparison, Cy Williams led the National League that year. He hit 15 home runs.

Answer: 1

Ruth was the only one, and he did it four different times, with 54 in 1920, 59 in 1921, 60 in 1927, and 54 in 1928. All were done as a member of the New York Yankees.

Answer: Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle

It was the combination of Mays and Mantle. Mays accomplished the feat first in 1955 with the then New York Giants by hitting 51, and Mantle did it in his Triple Crown year of 1956, by clubbing out 52 home runs.

Answer: George Foster

Foster terrorized National League pitching during the mid-1970s while playing for the Cincinnati Reds. He hit a career best 52 home runs in 1977. Ironically, the Reds finished 2nd that year after winning the NL pennant both in 1975 and 1976.

Answer: Brady Anderson

Although a capable hitter as proven by his 1992 season when he became only the third player in Major League history to hit 20 home runs, steal more than 50 bases, score 100 runs, and drive in more than 80 all in one season. His 1996 season has to be considered freakish as best, and suspect to say the least.

He credited it to body-building, weight training, and diet, however, rumors abounded, and in the era of steroids, who really knows.

Answer: 1980s

After George Foster hit 52 home runs in 1977, the next player to accomplish the feat was Cecil Fielder, who split time as a 1st baseman/designated hitter for the Detroit Tigers in 1990, and hit 51 homers that year. The only decade without a 50 home run hitter was the 1980s, and the gap between Foster and Fielder was the longest since the 1920s.

Answer: False

Maris won the American League Most Valuable Player Award in 1960, leading in slugging percentage, RBIs, extra base hits, and was the runner-up to teammate Mickey Mantle for home runs. Mantle led the league with 40, Maris hit 39.

Answer: Alex Rodriguez

Rodriguez joined this elite group in 2001 by slugging 52 home runs for the Texas Rangers. He also hit 57 for Texas in 2002, and 54 for the New York Yankees in 2007.

Answer: Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, 1961

In 1938, Jimmie Foxx of the Philadephia Athletics hit 52 home runs, and Hank Greenberg of the Detroit Tigers hit 58. In 1947, Johnny Mize of the New York Giants hit 51, as did Ralph Kiner of the Pittsburgh Pirates. However, it was Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle in 1961, playing for the New York Yankees, who hit 61 and 54 home runs respectively, and were the first teammates to have ever done this in the same season.

Many believe that if not for an injury which kept Mantle out of action late in the season, he may have broken the Ruth record of 60 home runs that year as well as Maris.

Answer: 0

Amazingly, Aaron never hit 50 or more home runs during a season. He was a measure of consistency. He hit no less than 24 home runs in 19 straight seasons. He hit 40 or more 8 times. His best season was 1971 when he hit 47 (and he drove in at least 90 RBIs a total of 16 times in his career).