500 home run club

Barry Bonds joined the 500 home run club in 2001 and set a new career home run record of 762 in 2007.

In Major League Baseball (MLB), the 500 home run club is a term given to the group of batters who have hit 500 or more regular-season home runs in their careers. On August 11, 1929, Babe Ruth became the first member of the club. Ruth ended his career with 714 home runs. This record stood from 1935 until Hank Aaron broke it in 1974. Aaron's ending career total, 755, stayed the record until Barry Bonds set the current mark of 762 during the 2007 season. The most recent player to reach 500 home runs is Miguel Cabrera, who hit his 500th home run on August 22, 2021. Twenty-eight players are members of the 500 home run club. Since Cabrera's retirement at the end of the 2023 season, there have been no active club members.

Of these 28 players, 15 were right-handed batters, 11 were left-handed, and 2 were switch hitters (meaning they could bat from either side of the plate). Two franchises have had four players reach 500 home runs while on the roster. The San Francisco Giants are represented by Mel Ott while the team was in New York, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, and most recently Bonds. The Boston Red Sox are represented by Jimmie Foxx, Ted Williams, Manny Ramirez, and David Ortiz. Seven 500 home run club members—Aaron, Mays, Eddie Murray, Rafael Palmeiro, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, and Cabrera—are also members of the 3,000 hit club. Gary Sheffield's 500th home run was his first career home run with the New York Mets, the first time that a player's 500th home run was also his first with his franchise. Alex Rodriguez, at 32 years and 8 days, was the youngest player to hit 500. Ted Williams, at 41 years and 291 days, was the oldest.

Until fairly recent times, becoming a member of the 500 home run club was sometimes described as a guarantee of entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Some believe the milestone has become less meaningful in recent years, and several members have not been enshrined in the Hall. Seven eligible club members—Bonds, Rodriguez, Mark McGwire, Palmeiro, Ramirez, Sheffield, and Sammy Sosa—have not been elected to the Hall. Bonds is one of only four members in the 700 home run club and Rodriguez and Sosa are members of the 600-homer club, all of whose other members are Hall of Famers except for the recently retired Pujols, who hit 703 career home runs and is not eligible until the 2027 balloting for the Hall's 2028 induction class.

Eligibility requires that a player has "been retired five seasons" or be dead for at least six months. Some believe the milestone has become less important with the large number of new members; 10 players joined the club from 1999 to 2009. Also, several of these recent members have had ties to performance-enhancing drugs. Some believe that by not electing McGwire to the Hall, the voters were starting a "guideline" on how they would treat players from the "Steroid Era". Since then, Bonds and Sosa have also failed to earn election. More recently, Palmeiro became the first club member to be dropped from the Hall of Fame ballot, failing to earn enough votes (5% of votes cast) in the 2014 election to stay on the ballot.

Key

Player	Name of the player
HR	Career home runs
Date	Date of the player's 500th home run
Team	The batter's team for his 500th home run
Seasons	The seasons this player played in the major leagues
†	Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
*	Denotes player who is still active

Members

Statistics up to date as of the end of the 2023 season, the last in which any club member was active

Babe Ruth was the first player to reach 500 home runs and set a career home run mark of 714 that stood until 1974.

Miguel Cabrera is the most recent player to hit 500 home runs, and the only one to reach the mark in the 2020s.

Player	HR	Date	Team	Seasons	Ref(s)
Bonds, BarryBarry Bonds	762	April 17, 2001	San Francisco Giants	1986–2007
Aaron, HankHank Aaron†	755	July 14, 1968	Atlanta Braves	1954–1976
Ruth, BabeBabe Ruth†	714	August 11, 1929	New York Yankees	1914–1935
Pujols, AlbertAlbert Pujols	703	April 22, 2014	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	2001–2022
Rodriguez, AlexAlex Rodriguez	696	August 4, 2007	New York Yankees	1994–2013, 2015–2016
Mays, WillieWillie Mays†	660	September 13, 1965	San Francisco Giants	1951–1973
Griffey Jr., KenKen Griffey Jr.	630	June 20, 2004	Cincinnati Reds	1989–2010
Thome, JimJim Thome	612	September 16, 2007	Chicago White Sox	1991–2012
Sosa, SammySammy Sosa	609	April 4, 2003	Chicago Cubs	1989–2005, 2007
Robinson, FrankFrank Robinson†	586	September 13, 1971	Baltimore Orioles	1956–1976
McGwire, MarkMark McGwire	583	August 5, 1999	St. Louis Cardinals	1986–2001
Killebrew, HarmonHarmon Killebrew†	573	August 10, 1971	Minnesota Twins	1954–1975
Palmeiro, RafaelRafael Palmeiro	569	May 11, 2003	Texas Rangers	1986–2005
Jackson, ReggieReggie Jackson†	563	September 17, 1984	California Angels	1967–1987
Ramirez, MannyManny Ramirez	555	May 31, 2008	Boston Red Sox	1993–2011
Schmidt, MikeMike Schmidt†	548	April 18, 1987	Philadelphia Phillies	1972–1989
Ortiz, DavidDavid Ortiz	541	September 12, 2015	Boston Red Sox	1997–2016
Mantle, MickeyMickey Mantle†	536	May 14, 1967	New York Yankees	1951–1968
Foxx, JimmieJimmie Foxx†	534	September 24, 1940	Boston Red Sox	1925–1942, 1944–1945
Williams, TedTed Williams†	521	June 17, 1960	Boston Red Sox	1939–1942, 1946–1960
McCovey, WillieWillie McCovey†	521	June 30, 1978	San Francisco Giants	1959–1980
Thomas, FrankFrank Thomas†	521	June 28, 2007	Toronto Blue Jays	1990–2008
Banks, ErnieErnie Banks†	512	May 12, 1970	Chicago Cubs	1953–1971
Mathews, EddieEddie Mathews†	512	July 14, 1967	Houston Astros	1952–1968
Ott, MelMel Ott†	511	August 1, 1945	New York Giants	1926–1947
Cabrera, MiguelMiguel Cabrera	511	August 22, 2021	Detroit Tigers	2002–2023
Sheffield, GaryGary Sheffield	509	April 17, 2009	New York Mets	1988–2009
Murray, EddieEddie Murray†	504	September 6, 1996	Baltimore Orioles	1977–1997

The only active player within 50 home runs of 500 is Giancarlo Stanton, who ended the 2025 season with 453 homers.

500 Home Run Club Media

• 

  David Ortiz is one of 12 to reach the milestone from 1999 to 2015.

Footnotes

• ^a Although MLB.com's 500 Home Run Club page lists Mathews at 511 home runs, his listings on both MLB.com and Baseball-Reference show 512.

References

General

• "Career Leaders & Records for Home Runs". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 15, 2010.
• "500 Home Run Club – Milestones | MLB.com: History". MLB.com. Major League Baseball. Retrieved July 15, 2010.

Specific