Giancarlo Stanton joined some seriously impressive company Monday night.
The Miami Marlins slugger — as he’s been known to do from time to time — blasted a laser beam of a home run, a three-run shot that helped his team beat the Los Angeles Angels 7-1.
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It was Stanton’s 33rd home run of the season (leading all National League hitters) and the 150th of his career, putting him in a class with some of the greatest sluggers of all time. At 24 years and 290 days, Stanton is the third-youngest player in major league history to reach that particular home run plateau.
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Before Monday, just 11 players had belted 150 homers before or during their age-24 season. Seven of them already are enshrined in Cooperstown, and a few more could join them before long.
1. Eddie Mathews: 190 homers in 732 games
2. Alex Rodriguez: 189 homers in 790 games
3. Mel Ott: 176 homers in 983 games
4. Jimmie Foxx: 174 homers in 810 games
5. Mickey Mantle: 173 homers in 808 games
6. Ken Griffey Jr.: 172 homers in 845 games
7. Frank Robinson: 165 homers in 735 games
8. Albert Pujols: 160 homers in 629 games
9. Orlando Cepeda: 157 homers in 764 games
10. Johnny Bench: 154 homers in 782 games
11. Andruw Jones: 150 homers in 827 games
11. Stanton: 150 homers in 619 games
Like we said, impressive company.
The Marlins still have 32 games to play this season, so it’s not a stretch to think Stanton could climb to No. 8 or 9 on that list before October. Whether he’ll still be in Miami when the 2015 campaign opens, however, is another story entirely. The outfielder has two years remaining on his contract, but many believe notoriously stingy Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria could trade him before then.
More than a few Boston Red Sox fans believe Stanton’s swing would fit in just fine at Fenway Park. Just sayin’.
Thanks to Eye on Baseball for the statistics
