"500" home run hitters biggest victims home runs per at bats.

"500" home run hitters victims. Monday, May 4, 2020

The 29 hitters with at least 493 career home runs hit them against 3,405 different pitchers. Partly because of scheduling changes and almost twice as many teams (30 to 16) and starting pitchers throwing way more innings and complete games in the 1920s, ... old timers hit many more home runs against fewer pitchers. Babe Ruth hit 714 home runs off 216 pitchers; Ruth's top two victims:
Rube Walberg 17
Hooks Dauss 14

Fred McGriff hit many fewer home runs than Ruth but against many more pitchers: 350. McGriff had the lowest maximum victim home runs in this group, only five:
Darryl Kile 5
Jose Rijo 5
Mark Portugal 5

Ruth homered against 12 opponents. McGriff 29...

Mays hit 18 against Spahn, who gave up a total of 33 to hitters in this group, including the 18 to Mays (Ouch!)

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Note: There were several discrepancies, including Ted Williams hitting 12 home runs off Virgil Trucks but baseball-reference.com showing only 8. So for many of these 29 home run hitters retrosheet.org was used.

Willie Mays got his first hit off Hall of Fame lefty Warren Spahn. Mays entered his fourth game 0 for 12. Mays got one hit in that game.

Monday, May 28, 1951

Attendance: 23,101

Venue: Polo Grounds V

Game Duration: 2:28

Night Game, on grass

Boston Braves 4, New York Giants 1

HR: Willie Mays (1, off Warren Spahn, 1st inn, 0 on, 2 outs to LF)

The Braves were already up 3-0 when Mays homered and Spahn pitched a complete game victory.

Mays has the most home runs off a pitcher, the 18 off Spahn. But is that partly due to Mays facing Spahn many times? Among the 29 leaders in career home runs Mays has the most at bats (AB) against the pitcher against whom he hit the most home runs: 223. In the table below Mays is number 23 in %Dif, the HR/AB ratio off his biggest victim (most home runs) compared to his ratio for all his home runs. Dif: all-victim. %Dif: Dif/all.

The table has the pitcher who allowed the most home runs to that batter. When multiple pitchers were tied, the one with the fewest AB is shown. Most notable among these ties and not in the table:

	Pit Max	HR	AB	HR/AB	Pit Max	HR	AB	HR/AB
Jimmie Foxx	General Crowder	16	152	9.50	Red Ruffing	16	180	11.25
Lou Gehrig	Earl Whitehill	14	208	14.86

Sorted descending on %Dif.

	Name	HR	AB	HR/AB	Pit Max	HR	AB	HR/AB	Dif	%Dif	Name
1	Jim Thome	612	8,422	13.76	Rick Reed	9	27	3.00	10.76	78.20%	Jim Thome
2	Gary Sheffield	509	9,217	18.11	Jamey Wright	6	27	4.50	13.61	75.15%	Gary Sheffield
3	Rafael Palmeiro	569	10,472	18.40	Brad Radke	9	55	6.11	12.29	66.80%	Rafael Palmeiro
4	Manny Ramirez	555	8,244	14.85	Jamie Moyer	10	53	5.30	9.55	64.32%	Manny Ramirez
5	Sammy Sosa	609	8,813	14.47	Jose Lima	7	37	5.29	9.19	63.47%	Sammy Sosa
6	Eddie Murray	504	11,336	22.49	Milt Wilcox	6	55	9.17	13.33	59.24%	Eddie Murray
7	Alex Rodriguez	696	10,566	15.18	Ramon Ortiz	8	50	6.25	8.93	58.83%	Alex Rodriguez
8	Ernie Banks	512	9,421	18.40	Robin Roberts	15	121	8.07	10.33	56.16%	Ernie Banks
9	Fred McGriff	493	8,757	17.76	Jose Rijo	5	39	7.80	9.96	56.09%	Fred McGriff
10	Barry Bonds	762	9,847	12.92	Chan Ho Park	8	47	5.88	7.05	54.54%	Barry Bonds
11	Albert Pujols	657	10,711	16.30	Ryan Dempster	8	62	7.75	8.55	52.46%	Albert Pujols
12	Jimmie Foxx	534	8,134	15.23	Tommy Bridges	16	117	7.31	7.92	51.99%	Jimmie Foxx
13	Harmon Killebrew	573	8,147	14.22	Earl Wilson	9	73	8.11	6.11	42.95%	Harmon Killebrew
14	Frank Thomas	521	8,199	15.74	Mike Mussina	9	82	9.11	6.63	42.10%	Frank Thomas
15	Lou Gehrig	493	8,001	16.23	Lloyd Brown	14	137	9.79	6.44	39.70%	Lou Gehrig
16	Ken Griffey Jr.	630	9,801	15.56	David Wells	8	78	9.75	5.81	37.33%	Ken Griffey Jr.
17	Frank Robinson	586	10,006	17.08	Larry Jackson	10	110	11.00	6.08	35.58%	Frank Robinson
18	Babe Ruth	714	8,399	11.76	Rube Walker	17	132	7.76	4.00	33.99%	Babe Ruth
19	Willie McCovey	521	8,197	15.73	Don Drysdale	12	128	10.67	5.07	32.20%	Willie McCovey
20	Mel Ott	511	9,456	18.50	Lon Warneke	13	166	12.77	5.74	31.00%	Mel Ott
21	Ted Williams	521	7,706	14.79	Virgil Trucks	12	123	10.25	4.54	30.70%	Ted Williams
22	Reggie Jackson	563	9,864	17.52	Wilber Wood	8	101	12.63	4.90	27.94%	Reggie Jackson
23	Willie Mays	660	10,881	16.49	Warren Spahn	18	223	12.39	4.10	24.85%	Willie Mays
24	Mark McGwire	583	6,187	10.61	Frank Tananna	7	56	8.00	2.61	24.62%	Mark McGwire
25	Hank Aaron	755	12,364	16.38	Don Drysdale	17	221	13.00	3.38	20.62%	Hank Aaron
26	Mike Schmidt	548	8,352	15.24	Bob Forsch	11	137	12.45	2.79	18.28%	Mike Schmidt
27	Mickey Mantle	536	8,102	15.12	Early Wynn	13	161	12.38	2.73	18.07%	Mickey Mantle
28	Eddie Mathews	512	8,537	16.67	Bob Friend	14	205	14.64	2.03	12.18%	Eddie Mathews
29	David Ortiz	541	8,640	15.97	Roy Halladay	6	99	16.50	-0.53	-3.32%	David Ortiz
	Name	HR	AB		Pit Max	HR	AB	HR/AB	Dif	%Dif	Name
	min	493	6,187	10.61		5	27	3.00	-0.53	-3.32%
	max	762	12,364	22.49		18	223	16.50	13.61	78.20%

David Ortiz actually had a worse ratio against Roy Hallady, who gave up the most home runs to Ortiz, than Ortiz had overall.

Most home runs to multiple batters among the 29 leaders: Don Drysdale: Aaron and McCovey

Hall of Fame pitchers: Roberts, Mussina, Drysdale, Spahn, Wynn, Halladay.

Lefty sluggers Ruth and Gehrig hit their most home runs off lefty pitchers.