Top 26 Most World Series Home Runs in MLB History
Top 26 Most World Series Home Runs in MLB History
Once these guys reached the Fall Classic, they were ready to launch tanks.
Our trip down postseason memory lane is taking its final turn, for now. We’ve looked at home-run leaders in the Division Series, NLCS, and ALCS (you can check out Wild Card Series leaders here, too).
Today, we’re looking at players with the most World Series home runs in history. You’ll quickly notice a theme.
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Mickey Mantle: 18 Home Runs
As you can imagine, this list will be a little heavy on the Yankees. That'll happen when you're playing in the Fall Classic pretty much every year. Out of the 18 seasons Mickey Mantle played in the big leagues, he appeared in the World Series 12 times.
Mantle walked away with seven titles and the most dingers ever -- not too shabby, right? After not hitting a homer through seven plate appearances in the 1951 Series, he hit at least one in each of his next seven trips.
This included five instances of hitting at least two dingers. The most Mantle hit during a single World Series was three, which he did three times (1956, 1960, 1964). Through 33 plate appearances in a matchup against the Pirates in 1960, he slashed .400/.545/.800 with three homers, 11 RBI, and eight runs scored.
Babe Ruth: 15 Home Runs
What home run leaderboard is Babe Ruth not on? There aren't many, I can tell you that much. While he's second to Mantle here, he found a way to distinguish himself from the pack.
Mantle hit 18 World Series homers in 65 games played (230 at-bats). Meanwhile, Ruth needed just 41 games (129 at-bats) to slug 15 dingers in the Fall Classic. The Sultan of Swat is another seven-time champion, and he got there in 10 trips. Only four came with the Yankees, though -- his first three titles came with the Boston Red Sox.
After losing the World Series in 1921 and 1922, Ruth and the Yankees went on to win it all in four of their next five trips. This included three straight sweeps in '27, '28, and '32. Ruth's OPS in those matchups was 1.271 in '27, 2.022 in '28, and 1.233 in '32.
For his postseason career (167 plate appearances), the left-handed slugger slashed .326/.470/.744.
Yogi Berra: 12 Home Runs
Nobody has played in more World Series than Yogi Berra, who appeared in 14. With 10 rings, nobody has won more titles as an individual player, either. When looking at the backstop's postseason career, eight of his 12 homers came during his prime -- his age-27 to age-32 seasons.
After posting a .731 OPS in the 1952 World Series, Berra rattled off three straight performances with an OPS above 1.000. He then finished it with a .894 mark in 1957.
Berra's best showing was the '56 Fall Classic. This series is remembered for Don Larson's perfect game. His catcher also raked at the plate during this seven-game battle against the Brooklyn Dodgers. In 29 trips to the dish, Berra slashed .360/.448/.800 with three homers and 10 RBI. He collected five extra-base hits overall, which was just over half of his total hits for the series.
Duke Snider: 11 Home Runs
Ah, a quick break from this run of Yankee hitters for the Dodgers. But we're not leaving New York thanks to Duke Snider. Unsurprisingly, the Dodgers' all-time home run leader also knew how to crush taters in October.
Snider appeared in six World Series. His first taste came in 1949, and it wasn't pleasant. He hit just .143/.143/.190 in 21 plate appearances. But after that, he did one of two things: Snider either hit one or four homers in each of his final five trips to the Fall Classic.
The left-handed hitter slugged four dingers in each of the '52 and '55 Series, along with hitting one in each of the '53, '56, and '59 Series. What I'm most impressed by is how good Snider's overall postseason statistics look. He accumulated 149 October plate appearances. Despite the first 21 being horrific, Snider still finished with a .286/.351/.594 line for his career.
Lou Gehrig: 10 Home Runs
I like measuring the legacy of star players by how long they still have a presence on certain leaderboards after they've retired. Lou Gehrig remains a legend for many reasons. But if we're strictly talking about what happens on the baseball field, it includes a couple of things.
He's not only still on the home run leaderboard when looking at World Series history, but he remains second to Ruth on the Yankees' franchise leaderboard. Like his other Yankee counterparts, Gehrig is a seven-time champion. He had much better fortune than the others, though.
After losing the '26 series as a 23-year-old, the Iron Horse never lost another Fall Classic. The first baseman hit seven of his 10 homers in two series (four in '28, three in '32). His OPS in those appearances were 2.433 and 1.718, respectively.
Reggie Jackson: 10 Home Runs
Mr. October won five World Series titles during his Hall of Fame career. It's easy to forget that Reggie Jackson had already won three with the Oakland Athletics before landing in the Bronx with the Yankees.
Everyone just remembers what he did for New York the most because it grabbed more headlines. Jackson even won Series MVP honors in 1973 against the New York Mets after hitting .310/.355/.586 in 31 plate appearances.
That performance included just one homer, though. Eight of his 10 World Series dingers came with the Bombers. The most eye-popping performance came in the '77 Series. Jackson hit five homers (including three in Game 6) with eight RBI. It was accompanied by a .450/.542/1.250 line and MVP honors.
Jackson wasn't nearly as dominant the following year, but he still did just fine during another Yankee title run. He slashed .391/.500/.696 with two homers and eight RBI in 28 plate appearances.
Joe DiMaggio: 8 Home Runs
Joe DiMaggio is yet another Yankee who won an abundance of World Series titles. Joltin' Joe went to 10 Fall Classics and was victorious in nine. He won his first five before losing to the Cardinals in 1942. DiMaggio then went off to fight in World War II before coming back and winning the title in each of his final four appearances.
From the standpoint of home runs, the outfielder was nothing if not consistent. He hit a homer in seven different series, including each of his last five. However, he hit more than one just once.
That came in 1947 against the Brooklyn Dodgers. New York won a seven-game battle, and DiMaggio wasn't as huge of a factor as in past victories. He did slug those two homers with five RBI in 32 plate appearances, but they were the only extra-base hits he recorded while posting a .837 OPS.
Bill Skowron: 8 Home Runs
This is the last Yankee we'll be talking about here, just in case you're wondering. Outside of winning his final title (of five overall) with the Dodgers in 1963, Bill Skowron made his seven other Fall Classic appearances with New York.
He homered in all but two of his World Series appearances. Like DiMaggio, he also never hit more than two in a single series. Unlike DiMaggio, though, Skowron hit two on two different occasions.
The first came in '58 when he slugged two dingers and collected seven RBI to go along with a .767 OPS. That was followed by two more homers and six RBI with a .989 OPS in the '60 World Series. The first baseman posted an OPS better than .900 in three of his final four trips to the Fall Classic.
Skowron accumulated 141 total postseason plate appearances. He was a more-than-solid contributor, slashing .293/.326/.519 with those eight homers, 29 RBI, and 19 runs scored.
Frank Robinson: 8 Home Runs
Similar to Gehrig, Frank Robinson's legacy is well intact because he's still littered all over home run leaderboards. This includes the all-time home run list, the Reds' all-time home run list, and the Orioles' career home run leaders.
Pretty impressive stuff from a generational player.
Robinson slugged 10 career postseason homers, and virtually all of them came in the World Series. He played in eight total series (three ALCS and five World Series) in October. The only time a matchup finished without him going deep was the 1971 ALCS.
That was easily his worst postseason series ever. Robinson struggled to a .083/.154/.167 line despite the Orioles sweeping the Athletics in three games. But he turned things around in the Fall Classic, slashing .280/.357/.520 with two homers and two RBI in 28 plate appearances against the Pirates.
Baltimore didn't finish that series with a win, but it was Robinson's final taste of the postseason. Thankfully, he made it a good one for himself.
Chase Utley: 7 Home Runs
As you can see below, there is a three-way tie at seven World Series homers between Chase Utley, George Springer, and Gil McDougald. So why am I only highlighting Utley? The Philadelphia Phillies second baseman did it in fewer plate appearances than both of his fellow hitters.
McDougald needed 190 at-bats, Springer needed just 56, but Utley needed only 45 at-bats to hit seven dingers. He appeared in three different World Series, but all his damage came in 2008 and 2009 with the Phillies.
The second baseman collected just three hits in the '08 series against the Tampa Bay Rays, but two of them left the yard. So, that led to an ultra-weird .167/.375/.500 line. It improved greatly the following year, but his performance once again included virtually all homers. In 25 plate appearances against the Yankees, Utley collected six hits. Five of them were dingers and he slashed .286/.400/1.048 in the series.
Most World Series Home Runs: The Rest
Here's what the remainder of the top 26 World Series home run leaders look like at the moment:
George Springer: 7 home runs
Gil McDougald: 7
Hank Bauer: 7
Goose Goslin: 7
Corey Seager: 6
Alex Bregman: 6
Lenny Dykstra: 6
Reggie Smith: 6
Roger Maris: 6
Al Simmons: 6
Joc Pederson: 5
Bernie Williams: 5
Johnny Bench: 5
Elston Howard: 5
Billy Martin: 5
Gil Hodges: 5
I'm absolutely SHOCKED Utley was the first representative of the 21st century. Crazy. He's a cheap, worthy HOF candidate from a Rookie Card perspective.