Top 2 Home Runs NON consecutive years for individuals.

First of a series that will examine most Home Runs (HR) hit by players for years that may or may not be consecutive. Through 2022. Subsequent posts will be Top 3, Top 4, ... Top 10.

There will be much more detail than in the previous posts on this:

If Aaron Judge hits 74 Home Runs in 2023 he breaks the two/consecutive seasons records. And the single season record. Monday, May 22, 2023

I've admonished simply staring at home run totals. Below there will be some context but this post is mostly fun ... and staring at totals.

Stop staring at Batting Average and Home Runs. Look at their percentage above the league.  Sunday, January 30, 2022

Aaron Judge #4 in 60 Home Runs seasons ranked by (AB/HR) percent difference from top HR that season. Final stats.  Monday, October 3, 2022

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Home Runs in two NON consecutive years. McGwire, Sosa, Bonds, Ruth, ... Tuesday, May 23, 2023

McGwire, Sosa ... Griffey. Home Runs in four consecutive years. Oh, wait: the Babe. Wednesday, May 24, 2023

In that previous post, Ken Griffey, Jr. got my attention and got me to include Babe Ruth.

142 players are included in this study. Criteria was at least 40 home runs in at least one season and at least 200 career home runs. I figured that would give the player a chance to be well represented in the posts for the fewest years. One exception: Pete Alonso was added. Alonso had 146 career home runs through 2022, the last year of this study. Alonso hit 53 as a rookie and 40 in 2022. I thought he deserved a look.

Originally I looked only at players with at least 50 HR but expanded. Even so, not included are:

Stan Musial: despite 475 career HR, never hit 40, never led NL in HR; 38 tops
Eddie Murray: despite 504 career HR, never hit 40, only led in HR in short 1981 season; 33 tops
Fred McGriff: despite 494 career HR, never hit 40, only led in HR with 36 and 35; 37 tops

Home Run (AB/HR) rate will be included to provide some context. It's way better than: simply staring at home run totals. Obviously it does not reflect whether a season was more or less likely to have lots of home run hitting.

Click link for the full list of 142 players sorted by SumHR, MaxHR.

Top 21 players:

qryHRtopN

Years	FirstName	LastName	SumHR	SumAB	AB/HR	MaxHR	MinHR	HRave	Max-Min	FirstYR	LastYR	NumYR
2	Mark	McGwire	135	1030	7.63	70	65	67.50	5	1998	1999	2
2	Sammy	Sosa	130	1220	9.38	66	64	65.00	2	1998	2001	4
2	Barry	Bonds	122	956	7.84	73	49	61.00	24	2000	2001	2
2	Babe	Ruth	119	1080	9.08	60	59	59.50	1	1921	1927	7
2	Aaron	Judge	114	1112	9.75	62	52	57.00	10	2017	2022	6
2	Ken	Griffey	112	1241	11.08	56	56	56.00	0	1997	1998	2
2	Alex	Rodriguez	111	1207	10.87	57	54	55.50	3	2002	2007	6
2	Jimmie	Foxx	108	1150	10.65	58	50	54.00	8	1932	1938	7
2	Mickey	Mantle	106	1047	9.88	54	52	53.00	2	1956	1961	6
2	Ryan	Howard	106	1191	11.24	58	48	53.00	10	2006	2008	3
2	Ralph	Kiner	105	1114	10.61	54	51	52.50	3	1947	1949	3
2	Willie	Mays	103	1138	11.05	52	51	51.50	1	1955	1965	11
2	Hank	Greenberg	102	1079	10.58	58	44	51.00	14	1938	1946	9
2	Jim	Thome	101	1006	9.96	52	49	50.50	3	2001	2002	2
2	David	Ortiz	101	1159	11.48	54	47	50.50	7	2005	2006	2
2	Roger	Maris	100	1089	10.89	61	39	50.00	22	1960	1961	2
2	Chris	Davis	100	1157	11.57	53	47	50.00	6	2013	2015	3
2	Albert	Belle	99	1155	11.67	50	49	49.50	1	1995	1998	4
2	Harmon	Killebrew	98	1132	11.55	49	49	49.00	0	1964	1969	6
2	Lou	Gehrig	98	1158	11.82	49	49	49.00	0	1934	1936	3
2	Jose	Bautista	97	1082	11.15	54	43	48.50	11	2010	2011	2
2	Giancarlo	Stanton	97	1214	12.52	59	38	48.50	21	2017	2018	2

Number 40:

qryHRtopN

Years	FirstName	LastName	SumHR	SumAB	AB/HR	MaxHR	MinHR	HRave	Max-Min	FirstYR	LastYR	NumYR
2	Hank	Aaron	92	1087	11.82	47	45	46.00	2	1962	1971	10

Expanding to players with max lower than 50, allows for Killebrew, Gehrig, Stanton. etc.

These players hit their maximum twice; Griffey and Cabrera did it in consecutive years:

qryHRcar200seas40Rk1_2

Firstn	Lastn	Rk1	Yr1	HR1	Rk2	Yr2	Hr2	Yr#
Lou	Gehrig	1	1934	49	2	1936	49	2
Harmon	Killebrew	1	1964	49	2	1969	49	5
Mike	Piazza	1	1997	40	2	1999	40	2
Ken	Griffey	1	1997	56	2	1998	56	1
Manny	Ramirez	1	1998	45	2	2005	45	7
Rafael	Palmeiro	1	1999	47	2	2001	47	2
Jim	Edmonds	1	2000	42	2	2004	42	4
Richie	Sexson	1	2001	45	2	2003	45	2
Edwin	Encarnacion	1	2012	42	2	2016	42	4
Miguel	Cabrera	1	2012	44	2	2013	44	1

If Years = NumYR, the years are consecutive in the full table.

Max - Min for just these two years shows a massive gap for some:

qryHRtopN

Years	FirstName	LastName	SumHR	SumAB	AB/HR	MaxHR	MinHR	HRave	Max-Min	FirstYR	LastYR	NumYR
2	Brady	Anderson	74	1143	15.45	50	24	37.00	26	1996	1999	4
2	Luis	Gonzalez	88	1227	13.94	57	31	44.00	26	2000	2001	2
2	Barry	Bonds	122	956	7.84	73	49	61.00	24	2000	2001	2
2	Roger	Maris	100	1089	10.89	61	39	50.00	22	1960	1961	2
2	Salvador	Perez	75	1091	14.55	48	27	37.50	21	2017	2021	5
2	Giancarlo	Stanton	97	1214	12.52	59	38	48.50	21	2017	2018	2
2	Hack	Wilson	95	1159	12.20	56	39	47.50	17	1929	1930	2
2	Andre	Dawson	81	1254	15.48	49	32	40.50	17	1983	1987	5
2	George	Bell	78	1251	16.04	47	31	39.00	16	1986	1987	2
2	Eugenio	Suarez	83	1102	13.28	49	34	41.50	15	2018	2019	2
2	Hank	Greenberg	102	1079	10.58	58	44	51.00	14	1938	1946	9

Of note are two record holders: Maris and Bonds. Bonds still has an average of 61.

Best rate (AB/HR) for their two highest home run seasons (7 players homered fewer than once every 10 AB):

qryHRtopN

Years	FirstName	LastName	SumHR	SumAB	AB/HR	MaxHR	MinHR	HRave	Max-Min	FirstYR	LastYR	NumYR
2	Mark	McGwire	135	1030	7.63	70	65	67.50	5	1998	1999	2
2	Barry	Bonds	122	956	7.84	73	49	61.00	24	2000	2001	2
2	Babe	Ruth	119	1080	9.08	60	59	59.50	1	1921	1927	7
2	Sammy	Sosa	130	1220	9.38	66	64	65.00	2	1998	2001	4
2	Aaron	Judge	114	1112	9.75	62	52	57.00	10	2017	2022	6
2	Mickey	Mantle	106	1047	9.88	54	52	53.00	2	1956	1961	6
2	Jim	Thome	101	1006	9.96	52	49	50.50	3	2001	2002	2
2	Hank	Greenberg	102	1079	10.58	58	44	51.00	14	1938	1946	9
2	Ralph	Kiner	105	1114	10.61	54	51	52.50	3	1947	1949	3
2	Jimmie	Foxx	108	1150	10.65	58	50	54.00	8	1932	1938	7
2	Alex	Rodriguez	111	1207	10.87	57	54	55.50	3	2002	2007	6
2	Roger	Maris	100	1089	10.89	61	39	50.00	22	1960	1961	2
2	Willie	Mays	103	1138	11.05	52	51	51.50	1	1955	1965	11
2	Ken	Griffey	112	1241	11.08	56	56	56.00	0	1997	1998	2

Look for subsequent posts: Top 3, Top 4, ... Top 10.