IN SEARCH OF/4: THE MOST HRs HIT by A HITTER VS. AN OPPOSING TEAM

BEFORE we take on the question of "who's the greatest homer hitter of all time" (a discussion that has many perspectives but only one irrefutable answer...) let's spend a little more time with the detailed breakouts we've been presenting. 

We'll go more a bit more contemporary with this comparison--a look at two sluggers who were, for a time at last, teammates: Alex Rodriguez and Ken Griffey Jr. 

Let's start with the controversial one, currently hard at work on rehabilitating his image...

FIRST thing you'll note is that A-Rod actually did play against every big league team--a fact that also ensures that his highest HR total against any opponent is not going to come within yodeling distance of Babe Ruth's 123 HRs vs. the Detroit Tigers.

The Angels were the team he victimized the most--a total of 70 HRs in less than a thousand plate appearances. That works out to a .338 HR/G average and a 7.5% HR/PA.

His highest HR/PA, however (for teams whom he played against in more than 50 games) was against the Twins (7.8%).

He was also quite effective against the team with whom he would eventually  become synonymous--those ever-infamous Bronx Bombers. 

So, aside from an inconvenient suspension, what kept A-Rod from being the fifth man with 700+ HRs?

That would be his clearly sub-par performance in interleague play: where his HR/PA is only 4.4%.

Note that A-Rod had a higher HR/G and HR/PA rate against good teams than he did vs. bad teams. That will be in direct contrast with his counterpart in this post...

Interestingly, Junior hit more homers in interleague play than he did against any individual opponent: his totals and percentages are among the most uniformly spread-out of any you'll find in this list of 500+ HR sluggers.

He barely had any games against his original team (the Seattle Mariners) but he did manage to do some damage (9.7% HR/PA) against them...

His numbers against the Colorado Rockies were enhanced by his 20 games in Coors Field, where he hit 9 HRs and had a .737 SLG.

He was almost as devastating when he played in the Cardinals' new stadium during his tour with the Reds, hitting six homers there in nine games, posting a .724 SLG there.

Junior hit 20 or more HRs against sixteen teams; we're not sure it's the record, but if it isn't, it's likely darned close to it.

Note, though, that he was much better at putting it to bad teams, as shown by his HR/G and HR/PA values in the GvB breakout.

Up next: who is the "greatest HR hitter of all time"? Think that over while you "stay tuned"...