All-time home run chart

The New York Times today has a neat feature that allows one to track the trajectory of home runs by each of the 22 players in the history of the game who have hit 500 home runs:

500 Home Run Hitters' Chart.

There are several quick take-aways from this cool chart:

1. It corroborates Teddy's comment in his Pedro post about Rafael "I take a base-on-balls. I take Viagra" Palmeiro's career: consistent player, but nothing dramatic or dominant, like Bonds (2000-present), or Foxx.

2. Griffey's home run pace between 25 and 30 years of age is sick! And none of it was done with the help of steroids or human-growth hormone (HGH). Critics have long alleged that Griffey showed, unfortunately, less (rather than more) interest in maintaining his physique, which is partly why he was "walking wounded" over long stretches of each season from 2001 through 2004. Now at 590 at age 38, Griffey would have been closer to 670 or so, had he been healthy in the prime of his career.

3. Predictions about the next "home run king," whether made today or at any time since Ruth, are destined/were destined to not come to fruition. Injuries (Foxx, Mantle, Griffey, even Thomas), war-time service (Williams, Mays), or other factors (Mays didn't make the big show until 20, after toiling in the Negro Leagues in his late teens, while guys like A-Rod and Foxx were in the Majors--even if not full-time--in their late teens) creep up at any point in a player's career and derail one's chances.


I really want to do posts profiling, separately, each of the guys in the 500 Home Run Club. That might wait until after the World Series, when things are quieter.