ONWARD we go in search of "the ultimate long ball victim, opposing team division." In this installment we continue examining homers vs. opponent breakouts for our other two 700+ HR hitters--Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron. Let's get right to the Bambino...
As we'll see, that's going to be higher for Babe Ruth, who's closer to seven percent. Might that be the highest such ratio for a hitter over baseball's 150+ seasons? (Wait for it...)
Given the gaps on the chart, it's clear that Ruth's career occurred in pre-expansion times. The Babe had plate appearances against fifteen teams, missing against his final team, the Boston Braves (who would appear in the row marked ATL if the Bambino had faced them).
The range for Ruth's prodigious long-ball theatrics is rather narrow: from 123 vs. the Detroit Tigers, down to 89 vs. the Washington Senators, whose home park in those days (Griffith Stadium) suppressed homers. (Note that we've placed the Senators in the row marked "MIN", since the original Washington team moved to Minneapolis during the first round of expansion.)
What's revealed in this table is a fact that is well-established: the Bambino was, plain and simple, a home run machine. with HR/PA figures residing above six percent for all seven of his major AL opponents. He even had a HR/PA of above six percent against the Yankees, a team he faced for just a little more than five seasons (1914-19) while he was with the Red Sox.
Ruth's HR/G average against good and bad teams has less separation than what we saw for Bonds and Pujols--as we said, a home run machine.
Now let's move on to Hank Aaron.
The Hammer spent 21 seasons with the Braves and two with the Brewers at the tail end of his career, so he faced twenty-two of the possible franchises that were in existence during his career.
(Note that Aaron's totals against the Dodgers, Giants, and Reds are higher than the other NL teams: that's because when divisions were introduced, those three teams were part of the Braves' division, along with the Houston Astros from the first expansion, and the San Diego Padres from the second. That also explains how Aaron appeared in more games against the Padres than the other second-wave expansion team, the Montreal Expos--the uneven schedule meant fewer games against the "other division. As we can see, it adds up fast: that 80-to-57 difference occurred in just six seasons.)
The Padres were Aaron's favorite victims percentage-wise--a HR/PA of just over eight percent. But it's the Reds who were team he hit up for the highest total of HRs--97. It's a bit surprising that his next highest total (95) is against the Dodgers, whose home park for thirteen seasons in Aaron's career was known for its suppressive tendencies. Aaron hit 22 HRs in Dodger Stadium over 95 games (a respectable pace of 37 HRs for a full season), but he also hit nine HRs at the Coliseum (in 45 games) and eleven HRs in Ebbets Field (in just 40 games).
Given the Dodgers' rep, it's odd to note that Aaron's lowest HR/PA value is, in fact, against the Giants (4.9%).
SO Aaron, too, was a homer machine--as we've seen, the numbers when expressed in HR/G and HR/PA don't move around all that much--but note two things: 1) he hit for a higher HR/PA against good teams than bad teams and 2) he broke Ruth's record in part due to his undeniable talent, but also because he amassed 3,000+ more plate appearances in his career. In a way, he didn't break Ruth's record so much as he outlasted it.
We'll be back with more folks in our next installment, in search for higher raw HR totals against an opponent (right now, Ruth's 123 against the Tigers is our top value) and for someone with a higher HR/PA. Stay tuned...
