Career Home Run record 1921: Babe Ruth becomes number one. Whose record had Ruth broken?

Roger Connor died almost ten years after Babe Ruth broke Connor's record of 138 for home runs in a career. Here are the career home run leaders through 1921:

qryHomeRunsCarYear2

theYear	Rank	NameF	NameL	HRcar	ABcar	HRmax	Bat	Year1	YearL
1921	1	Babe	Ruth	162	2107	59	L	1914	1921
1921	2	Roger	Connor	138	7797	17	B	1880	1897
1921	3	Sam	Thompson	126	5998	20	L	1885	1906
1921	4	Harry	Stovey	122	6153	19	R	1880	1893
1921	5	Gavvy	Cravath	119	3951	24	R	1908	1920
1921	6	Jimmy	Ryan	118	8172	17	R	1885	1903
1921	7	Dan	Brouthers	107	6726	14	L	1879	1904
1921	8	Mike	Tiernan	106	5915	16	L	1887	1899
1921	8	Hugh	Duffy	106	7044	18	R	1888	1906
1921	10	Honus	Wagner	101	10439	10	R	1897	1917
1921	10	Ed	Delahanty	101	7510	19	R	1888	1903
1921	12	Cap	Anson	97	10281	21	R	1871	1897
1921	12	Sam	Crawford	97	9570	16	L	1899	1917
1921	14	Fred	Pfeffer	94	6560	25	R	1882	1897
1921	15	Frank	Schulte	92	6533	21	L	1904	1918
1921	16	Herman	Long	91	7678	12	L	1889	1904
1921	17	Home Run	Baker	89	5750	12	L	1908	1921
1921	18	Jake	Beckley	87	9551	10	L	1888	1907
1921	19	Bill	Dahlen	84	9036	15	R	1891	1911
1921	19	Fred	Luderus	84	4851	18	L	1909	1920
1921	21	Sherry	Magee	83	7441	15	R	1904	1919
1921	22	Nap	Lajoie	82	9590	14	R	1896	1916
1921	22	Cy	Williams	82	3641	18	L	1912	1921
1921	22	Buck	Freeman	82	4208	25	L	1891	1907
1921	25	Ty	Cobb	81	8238	12	L	1905	1921

Babe Ruth was born in 1895, two years before Connor's final season. Connor had 56% of his plate appearances (PA), including 573 during 1890 in the Players League, for the New York Giants of the National League (NL). He is listed as batting both (switch hitter) primarily because of research here:

SABR bio by Bill Lamb

Among the questions provoked that April 1974 evening when Aaron smashed his 715th home run was this one: If Aaron had just broken Babe Ruth’s career home-run record, whose record had Ruth broken? The answer to that question shined the spotlight on long-neglected Roger Connor. Two years later Connor received his due when ceremonies in Cooperstown included the belated but eminently deserved induction of Connor into the ranks of baseball’s immortals.,,

In 1877 he joined the Waterbury Monitors, a local semipro nine... During his two-week audition, Roger, then a right-handed batter, proved unable to handle International Association-level pitching. After his release[5], Connor returned to the Monitors, where a move to the left side of the batter’s box produced dramatic improvement...

... extraordinary feat. As uncovered by biographer Roy Kerr, he hit four of his 11 1893 home runs batting right-handed.[30] 

Roy Kerr’s informative and comprehensive biography, Roger Connor, Home Run King of the 19th Century (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2011).

[30] Kerr, 122-123. The home runs were hit off left-handers Jack Sharrot (2), Duke Esper, and Ed Killen.

Sources

In addition to the sources expressly cited in the Notes below, the following works were consulted during the preparation of this profile:

Dennis Corcoran, Induction Day at Cooperstown: A History of the Baseball Hall of Fame Ceremony (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2011)...

The writer is indebted to Dana Lucisano of the Silas Bronson Library in Waterbury and Connor biographer Roy Kerr for their generous assistance in the preparation of this profile.

_____________________

Connor's final home run was his only in 1897:

1897	#car	#yr	#gm	Date	@Bat			Pitcher	Score	Inn	Out	RBI	BOP	Pos	WPA	Notes
138	138	1	1	1897-04-29	STL		CLV	Cy Young		b 5		1		3

Ruth hit 59 home runs in 1921. He broke Connor's career record with this one:

Monday, July 18, 1921

Attendance: 3,000

Venue: Navin Field

Game Duration: 2:07

Day Game, on grass

Yankees 10, Tigers 1

HR: Babe Ruth (36, off Bert Cole, 8th inn, 1 on, 0 outs to CF).

Bert Cole was a rookie lefty pitcher in relief of a blowout. In 1921 Cole allowed 3 home runs in 109 innings. He allowed 25 home runs in 605 innings 1921-1925, 1927. Ruth homered off Cole again in 1922 and 1924 for a total of 3, the most Cole allowed to a batter.

Connor led a league this number of times:

Hits 1

2B 1

3B 2

HR 0

ZERO home run championships in a season. His tops was 17 in 1887 at age 29 for the NL New York Giants. This was the first of seven times Connor was in double figures. His career OPS+: 153. Hank Aaron was 155. Aaron would break Ruth's career total of 714 in 1974. Then Barry Bonds would break Aaron's record of 755 in 2007 with 762. Leading a league in home runs this number of times:

Ruth 12

Aaron 4

Bonds 2.