Talk:List of Major League Baseball leaders in home runs by pitchers

This article was nominated for deletion on 31 May 2022. The result of the discussion was keep.

List of Major League Baseball leaders in home runs by pitchers received a peer review by Wikipedia editors, which is now archived. It may contain ideas you can use to improve this article.

A fact from List of Major League Baseball leaders in home runs by pitchers appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 12 June 2012 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that Wes Ferrell leads all Major League Baseball pitchers in home runs hit in a season (9), and in a career (37)?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2012/June.

Wikipedia

Baseball Low‑importance

	Baseball portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Baseball, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of baseball on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.BaseballWikipedia:WikiProject BaseballTemplate:WikiProject BaseballBaseball articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Lists

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Lists, an attempt to structure and organize all list pages on Wikipedia. If you wish to help, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.ListsWikipedia:WikiProject ListsTemplate:WikiProject ListsList articles
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.

Top 20

But these lists are just the top 20. Not as advertised. Emeraude 20:47, 27 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The problem with any baseball article named "all-time leaders" is it doesn't say how many are included. If they included all of them with 10 HR that would at least be an obvious limit. Mglovesfun 21:45, 21 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Carlos Zambrano

Keep an eye on Carlos Zambrano, he has 12 HR as of now. --Josh 04:36, 12 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Mike Hampton

Mike Hampton of the Houston Astros hit his 16th career home run on Friday, July 24th, 2009 against the New York Mets.

Babe Ruth

How can Babe Ruth have 29 home runs "as a pitcher" in 1919, but only 14 home runs "as a pitcher" over his entire career? Something went wrong here ... Paul (talk) 05:41, 16 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

On reflection, I think the criteria for the two lists are switched. I think the first list should be "while in the game as a pitcher." I think the second list should be "pitching in at least three games during the season." At that point it all becomes believable. Ruth pitched in 17 games during 1919, which was the final transition year when he was changing from pitcher to right field. Thereafter, he never again pitched in as many as three games during a season. Ruth's home run total for 1919 was 29. It is highly unlikely that all 29 home runs came in the 17 games that he pitched. On the other hand, only 14 career home runs for Ruth "while he was in the game as a pitcher" seems plausible. I'm making this change now. Paul (talk) 06:00, 16 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed. Ruth had two HRs as a pitcher in 1919.Neonblak ^talk - 00:09, 26 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Ruth's career total

To: Neonblak - Ruth hit 14 home runs as a pitcher but if the list has "Career Total" then he should be added. Since he has the most. Ruth was not added because he had 14 as a pitcher but instead he was a pitcher that ended up with 700+ home runs. When sorting by Career Total the list is totally misleading! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.65.149.246 (talk) 21:32, 20 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I appreciate your interest into this subject, and I understand your concern. The reason I included their career home run total was in an attempt to keep the article stable. Many sources want to include pinch-hit HRs as being hit in the capacity of being a pitcher, which causes people to correct it. I can't include Ruth on the list for the purpose of including his career-total, ore else I'd have to include any other every-day players who also have hit a HR as a pitcher. I could take the sorting option away from the column, that could possibly remedy the issue.Neonblak ^talk - 22:06, 20 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

To Neonblak - At a minimum the sorting option for the career total home runs should be removed. Removing the whole column would be better. The notes section contents should be changed slightly. Example: Hit one home run as a pinch hitter for a career total of 38. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.65.149.246 (talk) 15:14, 21 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Another option would be to add a paragraph explaining why Ruth is not in the list. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.123.52.248 (talk) 00:37, 22 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

If nobody objects I will removed the sorting option on the career total as suggested by Neonblak. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.65.149.246 (talk) 13:33, 28 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Ohtani

Will Ohtani count or no? Nookie123456789 (talk) 02:48, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Only home runs he hits when he is a pitcher.Neonblak ^talk - 19:25, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

So when he is the DH, it doesn't count? Nookie123456789 (talk) 04:58, 8 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

No, it's considered another position. Same goes for pinch-hit HRs.Neonblak ^talk - 23:48, 17 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Baseball Reference doesn't divide his HR as DH from his HR as pitcher, so if you're going to make that argument, you'd better do the legwork yourself. He'll be on the list either way after this season. I understand your argument, obviously, but finding a reference to cite that gives his HR in innings where he is pitching is being devilish. --Rvanarsdale (talk) 06:44, 7 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Baseball-Reference does, in fact, separate out his HRs by position. See -->Home Run Log. I can only suggest 2 options for people going forward: 1) Just be patient, he will hit more and then qualify being added to the active list, or 2) Be Bold and add a note in the lead indicating that while he is a power-hitting pitcher, he has only hit 3 in that position. I would do it myself, but I think his situation is still very fluid, unlike Ruth, who is long retired and dead, and his stats are very unlikely to change.Neonblak ^talk - 20:52, 22 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Does anyone know which one of these is correct? Baseball-Reference shows Ohtani having 3 HRs / 117 hit while playing the position of pitcher, while Fangraphs shows him with 4. I suspect BR is counting all his PA in 2022 as DH, since there is a universal DH, but I cannot be sure of that. Natg 19 (talk) 22:11, 8 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Doing a little more research, it appears that Ohtani hit a HR as a pitcher on June 9, 2022, which Fangraphs categorizes as a pitcher HR and BR categorizes as a DH HR. I will update the article to reflect this.Natg 19 (talk) 22:16, 8 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

outdated?

Is this an outdated statistic now? With the universal DH, there won't be any additions to this list, except for the rare case where a team forgoes the DH (e.g. for Ohtani). Natg 19 (talk) 03:58, 16 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I think it is worth keeping. The home runs happened, and people will want to know the information. I still think Ohtani shouldn't be added until he hit at least his 4th because you'd have to add all current pitchers with 3 as well. But, if it helps pacify the people who don't understand the idea of home runs per position...so be it. Neonblak ^talk - 15:56, 20 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Ohtani active numbers

Some editors are adding more HRs to his active total that haven't been credited. MLB and Baseball-reference are the sources we should be using, not fangraphs. Officially, he still has 3, and that's what should be shown.Neonblak ^talk - 19:10, 30 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I think, since they instituted the "Ohtani Rule" allowing pitchers to also be the Designated Hitter, every home run he hits as a pitcher will be credited as DH. Not sure if that will ever change. Neonblak ^talk - 15:56, 1 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Is there a reason we should be using MLB and BR, but not Fangraphs? Natg 19 (talk) 22:09, 28 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Ohtani again

The table says he has 3 HRs as a pitcher, but the notes column says "Has 121 career home runs, but 114 of them are as a designated hitter, and 2 are as a pinch hitter." 121 minus 114 minus 2 does not equal 3, so one of the numbers must be wrong..... -- ChrisTheDude (talk) 18:34, 4 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Updated the table. It seems like Fangraphs does the splits correctly by P, DH and PH: [1]. Natg 19 (talk) 22:09, 28 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

2 home run leaders??

the article first says ohtani is the active home run leader among pitchers, then immediately says madison bumgarner is the same thing. Which one is it? Please clarify 2600:1700:6062:2480:CD43:230:5F7F:1BB6 (talk) 03:40, 24 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]