Final home runs by members of the 500 home run club

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Mike Schmidt hit 548 home runs in his career. How much do you know about his final blast.

They are the numbers you know. 548. Michael Jack Schmidt. 714. Babe Ruth.
Sure, you might know about Hank Aaron’s 715th home run, but what do you know about about No. 755?
Or how about Ernie Banks’ final home run? Any other members of the 500 Home Run Club?
The Southpaw’s willing to bet you don’t know much about that history. (Neither did he.)
So he went to work. And he came up with as much information as he could about those numbers.
Did you know none of the members hit their final home runs in the fifth inning. Now there’s some flukish trivia.
Read on and you can find out who was the only player to hit his final blast outside the United States or which player hit his final home run in a three-homer barrage.

Babe Ruth – 714
We might as well start with the Bambino. After all, he was the first guy in the 500 home run club.
You might remember that Ruth finished his career where he started it, in Boston. But his biggest day that season came in Pittsburgh. Ruth hit three home runs against the Pirates, but it wasn’t enough for the Braves, who lost by an 11-7 score. He did play five more games and go to bat nine more times after his final clout that day.
Date – 5/25/1935
Pitcher – Guy Bush

While The Southpaw couldn’t compile a great amount of facts about Ruth’s final home run, here is a great story about the people who were there.
He wasn’t the only legendary slugger to go out with a bang against the Pirates.

The Babe and the Beast, George Herman Ruth and James Foxx, were two of the best sluggers ever.

Jimmie Foxx – 534
Like Ruth, Jimmy Foxx played his final season in the same city as his first. This time, it was Philadelphia.
Foxx’s final long ball also came against the Pirates and it also included a memorable performance, a 4-for-5 day that also included a double. He retired eight games and 17 at-bats later.

Date: 9/9/1945
Pitcher: Johnny Lanning

Ruth and Foxx have something in common with another guy who’s high on the home run chart.

Willie Mays – 660
The Say Hey kid is one of four members of the 500 home run club to play his first and final seasons in the same city, but for different teams. Mays retired as a Met. Here’s a good bit of trivia for you. Mays played first base against the Reds the day he hit his final home run. His career would last just 12 more games and 26 additional at-bats.

Date: 8/17/73
Pitcher: Don Gullett

So who was the final member of the two-teams, one city club?

Hank Aaron – 755

Hank Aaron wasn't just a home run hitter. He batted above .300 and played splendid defense.

That’s right, Aaron retired a Brewer after starting his career with the Milwaukee Braves. His final home run came against the California Angels. His career would last 23 games and 64 more at-bats. Of course, that last homer would stand for quite a while.

Date: 7/20/76
Pitcher: Dick Drago

There have been few instances when two members of the 500 Home Run Club were teammates. Aaron is one. He was teammates with Eddie Mathews, who has an interesting distinction when it comes to this club.

Eddie Mathews – 512
Eddie Mathews is the only player to have a multi-homer game include his final career home run. Mathews wasn’t even the only player on his team with two home runs in the game. Norm Cash also had two long balls. But it wasn’t enough, as the Tigers lost, 7-6, to the Angels.
Date: 5/27/1968
Pitcher: Sammy Ellis

While Aaron and Mathews were famous for being teammates, it’s even more rare for a player in this club to have spent an entire career with one team.

The Mick captured a nation's imagination for a decade.

Mickey Mantle – 536
Mickey Mantle was on a tear in September of 1968. From Sept. 7 to Sept. 20, he batted .486/.558/.734. He hit his final home run, while going 2-for-4 on Sept. 20. Hit was his last home run and he would finish the season weakly, going 1-for-18 over his final seven games.

Date: 9/20/68
Pitcher: Jim Lonborg

Mickey Mantle was one of just five players to hit all of his 500-plus home runs with one team.

Mike Schmidt – 548
Mike Schmidt also spent his entire career with one franchise. He even had all of his home runs called by Phillies’ broadcaster Harry Kalas. After No. 548, Schmidt fell into a slump that would end his career, going 5-for-57 in 18 games.

Date: 5-2-11
Pitcher: Jim Deshais

Two other members of the 500 home run club spent their entire careers with one team. Both of them were National League squads.

Sammy Sosa, left, and Ernie Banks have Chicago plenty of right-handed pop and smiles. Ernie's still doing so.

Ernie Banks – 514
Mr. Cubs’ final blast came came in 5-4 loss to the Reds. While Banks did not go long during his final eight games, he batted .300.

Date: 8/24/71
Pitcher: Jim McGlothlin

Only one more hitter blasted all of his home runs for the same team.

Mel Ott – 511
Mel Ott’s final home run was the only one he hit in 1946 and was part of an 8-6 Giants’ victory. Ott would parts of two seasons but not go yard again.
Date: 4/16/46
Pitcher: Oscar Judd

While five players hit their final blasts with the same team the started their careers, only one player played for seven teams.

Gary Sheffield – 509
No member of the 500 Home Run Club played for more teams than Gary Sheffield, who donned the uniforms of eight different franchises. His final blast came in a 10-3 Mets loss to the Brewers.

Date: 6/29/2010
Pitcher: Carlos Villanueva

While Sheffield has the record for the most teams played for, which player was the only one to hit his final blast outside the United States.

Willie McCovey – 521
Stretch McCovey hit his first home run of the 1980 season in early May. It was in Montreal, for a 3-2 victory. He would play in 26 more games and go to bat 63 times the rest of his career.

Date: 5/3/1980
Pitcher: Scott Sanderson

McCovey is one of three members of the 500 home run club who won Rookie of the Year honors. The other two were Mark McGwire, Eddie Murray and Frank Robinson.

Frank Robinson – 563
Frank Robinson’s final home run came in the first inning. His early home run helped the Indians jump out to a lead the Angels would never overcome. He would play 13 more games and bat 23 more times in his career.

Date: 7/7/76
Pitcher: Sid Monge

Frank Robinson doesn’t just have the rookie of the year award with Robinson. Both spent parts of their careers with the Orioles, Indians and Dodgers.

Eddie Murray, one of the most popular players in Baltimore Orioles history, played in three World Series.

Eddie Murray – 504
Eddie Murray launched 504 home runs in his career, but never smacked more than 33 in a season. Murray would play in 19 more games and come to bat 43 times before his career would end.

Date: 5/30/97
Pitcher: Bob Tewksbury

Murray played against three members of the 500 home run club in the postseason (Mike Schmidt in 1980, Manny Ramirez and Jim Thome in 1996), but he’s not the most famous October hero on this list.

Reggie Jackson – 563
Reggie Jackson ended his career on a hot streak, batting .321 in his final 28 games, but without any homers. His final homer came while he was a teammate of Mark McGwire.

Date: 8/17/1987
Pitcher: Mike Witt

While Jackson was known for his postseason prowess, another player had to overcome his stigma as a postseason failure.

Barry Bonds – 762

Barry Bonds could do it all early in his career.

Like him or not, Barry Bonds is the all-time home run leader. His final clout, No. 762 of his career, was his 28th of the season. Though he would play 10 more games and finish the year with 28 home runs, no one brought him back.

Date: 9/5/2007
Pitcher: Ubaldo Jimenez

Bonds might hold the home run records, but he won only two home run crowns during his career. Another slugger on this list did that six times.

Harmon Killebrew – 573
Only Babe Ruth and Mike Schmidt had more home run crowns than Harmon Killebrew. The killer’s final clout came against the team he spent the majority of his career with: Minnesota. The six-time home run champ hit his last bomb against Eddie Bane. Killebrew would go 1-for-10 in the final four games of his career.

Date: 9/18/75
Pitcher: Eddie Bane

While Killebrew took home a handfull of home run titles, few sluggers won any batting titles.

Frank Thomas – 521
The Big Hurt dominated the American League for 20 years, taking over from Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire as the league’s most powerful right-handed bat. Thomas won a batting title in 1997 and batted .321 from 1990-2000. By the time his career wound down, Thomas couldn’t help the Bash Brothers’ former club escape the basement of the American League West.

Date: 8/9/2008
Pitcher: Armando Gallaraga

Thomas wasn’t the only slugger in the 1990s who entered this exclusive club, he just happened to be one of the few who retains a clean reputation.

Rafael Palmeiro – 569
Just in case you don’t know the story: Rafael Palmeiro was considered a good guy. In other words: He wasn’t on ‘roids. Then he failed a drug test. He was baseball’s first big name to be nabbed. He then went into a monumental slump, launched the final home run of his career, retired and hasn’t been heard from since.

Date: 7/30/2005
Pitcher: Jose Contreras

He’s not the only player directly stained by steroids on this list.

Sammy Sosa – 609
Sammy Sosa fell from grace after helping revitalize baseball in the late 1990s. Sosa is in the record books for having the most seasons with 60 home runs (three). He also came thisclose to hitting a home run in his final game. Sosa went 1-for-3 with a home run in the second-to-last game of his career.

Date: 9/26/2007
Pitcher: Joe Saunders

Sosa will always be tied to Mark McGwire for the summer of 1998. So how did McGwire’s final home run come about.

Mark McGwire – 583
Big Mac and the Cardinals were in a tight playoff race when he went yard and help break open a 10-3 win over the Cardinals that helped the Cardinals secure a playoff berth.

Date: 10/4/2001
Pitcher: Rocky Coppinger

McGwire is one of two players to hit his final home run in October

Ken Griffey Jr. – 630
The Kid’s final clout came in October and helped the Mariners beat the Rangers, 2-1. It was the 630th of his career and his 19th of the season.
Date: 10/3/2009
Pitcher: Tommy Hunter

Griffey is one of two members of this club to start another season after hitting his final home run, but not hit one during that season. Confused? So is The Southpaw.

Manny Ramirez – 555
Manny Ramirez’ career ended in shame – and a lot of money. For the second time in two years, Ramirez was busted for steroids. He played the final year and two weeks of his career with three teams, the Dodgers, White Sox and Rays.
Date: 9/17/2010
Pitcher: Max Scherzer

So Ramirez went out with a whimper. Only one player went out with a bang.

John Updike, on Williams' final home run: "Like a feather caught in a vortex, Williams ran around the square of bases at the center of our beseeching screaming. He ran as he always ran out home runs—hurriedly, unsmiling, head down, as if our praise were a storm of rain to get out of."

Ted Williams – 521

The most famous final home run of all time came off the bat of Ted Williams. It’s beautifully chronicled in the John Updike essay “Hub fans bid Kid Adeiu” – which happens to be the finest written piece of sports writing ever.
Williams clout, a solo shot, came in his final at-bat.
Date: 8/28/1960
Pitcher: Jack Fisher
Bet you didn’t know he wasn’t the only 500-home run club member to homer in his final at-bat.

Breaking down the numbers
Final home runs by …
Winning team
Win: 11 — F. Robinson, T. Williams, J. Foxx, W. McCovey, H. Aaron, H. Killebrew, M. Ott, Griffey Jr., B. Bonds, S Sosa, M. McGwire
Loss: 12 — B. Ruth, W. Mays, M. Mantle, M. Schmidt, E. Banks, E. Murray, G. Sheffield, F. Thomas, M. Ramirez, E. Mathews, R. Palmeiro, R. Jackson
Inning
1st: 6 — F. Robinson, M. Schmidt, M. Ott, B. Bonds, F. Thomas, S. Sosa
2nd: 2 — H. Killebrew, E. Murray
3rd: 2 — M. Mantle, E. Banks
4th: 3 — W. Mays, W. McCovey, K. Griffey Jr., M. Ramirez
5th: 0 — None
6th: 3 — J. Foxx, R. Palmeiro, M. McGwire
7th: 4 — B. Ruth, H. Aaron, E. Mathews, R. Jackson
8th: 1 — T. Williams
9th: 1 — G. Sheffield

Out
0: 5 — W. McCovey, Ken Griffey Jr., E. Mathews, R. Palmeiro, R. Jackson
1: 6 — T. Williams, W. Mays, H. Killebrew, E. Murray, G. Sheffield, S. Sosa
2: 9 — F. Robinson, H. Aaron, M. Schmidt, M. Mantle, E. Banks, B. Bonds, F. Thomas, M. Ramirez, M. McGwire
Unknown: 3 — B Ruth, J. Foxx, M. Ott

Remember when Mark McGwire made you believe? Well, Big Mac is the only player in the 500 Home Run Club who drove in more than two runs with his final home run.

Runners on
0: — W. McCovey, F. Robinson, T. Williams, B. Ruth, W. Mays, H. Aaron, H. Killebrew, E. Banks, Ken Griffey Jr., E. Murray, F. Thomas, M. Ramirez, E. Mathews, M. Ramirez
1: 8 — J. Foxx, M. Schmidt, M. Ott, B. Bonds, G. Sheffield, R. Palmeiro, S. Sosa, R. Jackson
2: 1 — M. McGwire
3: 0 — None

For more 500 Home Run Club notes, click here.

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