David Wright & Robinson Canó Join the 200-Home Run Club – Random HR History for Week of 12/2

Come for the random homers, stay to learn about Willie Stargell's triple MVP season.

Just because it’s the offseason doesn’t mean I still don’t share home run videos every day. Instead of discussing “on this date in home run history,” you now get a chance to see which random players I’ve been thinking about recently.

And since you’re on this email list, you get a sneak peek of what I’m sharing for the upcoming week before everyone else does. Enjoy!

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Monday, 12/2

5/13/2006: Jose Bautista slugged his first of 344 career MLB home runs. He hit 16 dingers with 51 RBI in 117 games for the Pirates in ’06.

9/18/2009: Ichiro walked things off for the Mariners against Mariano Rivera and the Yankees.

10/21/2007: Dustin Pedroia hit his first career postseason home run.

Tuesday, 12/3

8/20/2013: Robinson Canó celebrated hitting his 200th homer by enjoying a 4-for-4 day at the plate for the Yankees.

8/21/2007: Craig Biggio’s final big-league homer was also his 53rd leadoff tater.

8/4/1992: Gary Sheffield hit his 20th dinger of the year for the Padres.

Wednesday, 12/4

10/8/1997: Chipper Jones extended the Braves’ NLCS Game 2 lead by slugging this two-run homer in the third inning.

9/2/2015: Ben Zobrist, Lorenzo Cain, Kendrys Morales, and Cheslor Cuthbert all homer during a Royals win.

4/5/2002: Jonny Damon hit his first home run for the Red Sox.

Thursday, 12/5

8/24/2012: David Wright hit his 200th career home run. He finished with 242, which currently ranks second in Mets history.

4/20/1990: Larry Walker hit the first home run of his Hall of Fame career.

3/11/2017: Nelson Cruz hit a huge three-run homer for the Dominican Republic during their WBC matchup against Team USA.

Friday, 12/6

4/6/2015: Jimmy Rollins gave the Dodgers an eighth-inning lead with this three-run homer.

5/5/2014: Troy Tulowitzki enjoyed a two-homer day at Coors Field for the Rockies.

7/27/2017: Brett Gardner hit an 11th-inning walk-off home run for the Yankees.

Saturday, 12/7

8/27/2000: Bobby Abreu’s second home run of the game was an inside-the-parker to walk things off, and it was accompanied by some great announcing from Harry Kalas in the booth.

4/22/2007: Dan Uggla visited the upper deck for the Marlins.

10/8/2021: Buster Posey gave the Giants an early NLDS Game 1 lead with this two-run homer.

Sunday, 12/8

6/4/2000: Jeff Kent homered twice for the Giants in an 18-2 beatdown of the A’s. He finished the year with 33 homers, 125 RBI, and the NL MVP Award.

8/18/2013: Miguel Cabrera reached the 40-homer plateau for the second consecutive year.

5/26/2013: Nick Swisher launched a ball over the Green Monster to extend Cleveland’s lead over the Red Sox.

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Remembering Willie Stargell’s Triple-MVP Performance

Willie Stargell accomplished quite a bit during a Hall of Fame career. He spent all 21 of his big-league seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and his 475 home runs are the most in franchise history.

Before the 1979 season started, one of the few things missing from his resume was an MVP Award. It’s not that he didn’t come close, though — from 1962-78, Stargell finished within the top 20 of NL MVP voting nine times. This included six top-10 finishes. He even finished second, third, and second in three straight seasons (1971-73).

But things changed in a big way during his age-39 campaign. He was named Co-NL MVP with Keith Hernandez after hitting .281/.352/.552 with 32 home runs and 82 RBI in 460 plate appearances.

The Pirates went on to win the World Series, and they couldn’t have gotten it done without Stargell. He won NLCS MVP honors after posting a 1.753 OPS in 14 plate appearances. That was followed by taking home World Series MVP honors after posting a 1.208 OPS in 32 plate appearances.

Talk about accumulating a lot of hardware in one year, right?

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P.S. It’s officially the holiday season. If you’re looking for a fun gift for the baseball fan in your life, check out my book about each team’s single-season home run leaders.