While celebrating the golden anniversary of Hank Aaron breaking Babe Ruth’s home runs, it’s time to see if anyone active today is chasing Aaron.
The resounding response is absolutely not!
Aaron’s records for runs batted in (2,297), extra-base hits (1,477), total bases (6,856), and steroids-free homers (755) seem as safe as the gold bullion in Fort Knox.
The active leader in home runs, Giancarlo Stanton, has 407, tied with Hall of Famer Duke Snider for 57th on the career list.
Behind him are Mike Trout, at 376 despite his hot start this season, and Paul Goldschmidt, whose cold start hasn’t elevated him much beyond his current total of 341. Behind them are Nolan Arenado (326) and Freddie Freeman (322).
Freeman does have the most RBIs among actives at 1,156 but ranks only 185th on the lifetime list. In fact, he’s the only man standing before No. 200, Goldschmidt at 1,130. Goldy’s Cardinals teammate, Arenado, is third but ranks 233rd through games of the weekend.
As for extra-base hits, Aaron has no pursuers. Freeman has 830 but ranks only 104th, followed by Goldschmidt at 776 (tied for No. 142) and the fast-fading Andrew McCutchen with 762 (No. 152).
Total bases is another no-brainer.
Freeman, fast emerging as a future Hall of Famer, leads active players with 3,642 but stands only 144th on the career list. He’s followed by McCutchen (3,468) and Goldschmidt (3,403), who stand in line as Nos. 180 and 201, respectively.
Even in the category of grand-slams, where Aaron ranks 10th with 16, current leader Manny Machado only has 12, one more than Stanton and four more than Javy Baez and Cody Bellinger, who seem surprisingly productive with the bases loaded.
The nine active players with seven slams are Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Nick Castellanos, Goldschmidt, Bryce Harper, Matt Olson, Marcell Ozuna, Marcus Semien, and George Springer.
The first player whose 3,000 hits included 500 homers, Aaron ran more miles around the bases – 12 – than anyone else. He scored 2,174 times, tied with Ruth for fourth in that category, well behind leader Rickey Henderson (2,295). But nobody playing now is close to those figures.
Bryce Harper, in fact, is the only current player with four digits: 1,007 runs scored. But that’s only 336th on the lifetime list, tied with the unforgettable Carney Lansford.
After that, Carlos Santana has 997, tied for 350th all-time.
Looking at these numbers, it’s not surprising that Henry Louis Aaron was nicknamed “The Hammer.” When he created a record, he nailed it in for keeps.
