On August 11, 1929, Babe Ruth sent a Willis Hudlin pitch over the right field wall for his 30th home run of the season. The Yankees lost that game 6-5 but “The Bambino” made history as the charter member of the legendary 500 home run club. Before Ruth, the concept of a 500 home run hitter seemed ludicrous as his predecessor to the throne, Roger Conner, held the top mark for 24 years with 138 dingers. Oh, you could make the argument that those were the “dead-ball” days and the game changed dramatically in the 1920’s (and of course, it did), but consider that the same day Ruth touched all four bases for the 500th time in his career, #2 on the list was 33-year old Rogers Hornsby, who also hit a home run and pushed his career total to 233. It takes a combination of consistent greatness and injury-free longevity to reach the magic number, with the long list of baseball players that came up just short including such icons as Lou Gehrig (493), Stan Musial (475) and Carl Yastrzemski (453).

Welcome to the Club! Ruth has Company

As the home run became a more integral part of the game, players came along with greater power and longevity. Though challenging Ruth’s 714-lifetime homers was still a pipedream, the idea that another superstar could join Ruth at the 500 home run plateau seemed attainable given the right circumstances. When Babe set the single-season record in 1927 by notching 60 round-trippers, a mark that would stand for over 30 years, he single-handedly hit more home runs than every TEAM in the American League. Teammates Gehrig and Lazzeri finished 2nd and 3rd with 47 and 18 respectively. But just five years later, with Ruth’s career winding down, the 30 home-run hitter was no longer an aberration. Eleven years after Ruth started the club, Jimmie Foxx next crossed the barrier and New York’s Mel Ott joined as the first member from the National League five years after that. Where once there was just Ruth now stood three. But it was time to set a few more places at the table, this party was just getting started!

The 1950’s – Going, Going …. Gone!

It would be another 15 years before baseball would see another 500 homer guy with Ted Williams gaining admittance in 1960, having lost several years to military service. And while the 1950s didn’t celebrate a 500 home run hitter, it produced a new wave of superstars that made it the golden age of baseball and opened the club to new membership. Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays started their assault on “The Big Apple” in 1951, followed by Eddie Mathews in ‘52, Ernie Banks in ‘53, Harmon Killebrew and Hank Aaron in ‘54, Frank Robinson in ‘56 and Willie McCovey in ‘59. Eight new members that began their careers in the 1950s had all crossed into the club, with Mantle and Mathews doing it two months apart in 1967 and Aaron joining exactly a year after Mathews. Adding in Reggie Jackson, Mike Schmidt and Eddie Murray, the 500 home run club was up to 15 members, all of which are enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Since 1999, 12 more members have entered the 500 home run club since; McGwire,Palmeiro, Bonds, Sheffield, Sosa, Griffey, F. Thomas, Thome, M. Ramirez, A. Rodriguez, Ortiz and Pujols.

MHCC Offering Collection of Game-Used Bats from Each Member of the 500 Home Run Club and More!

There’s no need to wonder how a power pitcher like Nolan Ryan or Bob Feller would have fared in the dead ball era of the early 1900s, because they were there. So was Justin Verlander, Stephen Strasburg and Aroldis Chapman. Each one of these ace hurlers dominated the early days of baseball, but they did so under the name Walter Johnson. Nicknamed “The Big Train” because a train was the fasting thing people knew of to move from one place to another at the time, Johnson’s unprecedented sidearm fastball baffled even the most iconic baseball immortals of his day.

“We couldn’t touch him …”

There weren’t many times in his 24 year career that Ty Cobb was overmatched at the plate, and far fewer that the surly “Georgia Peach’ would actually admit to. But mention the name Walter Johnson and you’d see a rare emotion from Cobb … humility. “The first time I faced him, I watched him take that easy windup. And then something went past me that made me flinch. The thing just hissed with danger,” said Cobb. “We couldn’t touch him … every one of us knew we’d met the most powerful arm ever turned loose in a ball park.” Johnson’s dominance can be traced back to high school. As a member of Fullerton Union High School, he struck out 27 batters during a 15-inning game. Discovered while playing in the Idaho State League, the scout that signed him said of the 19-year old pitcher, “He throws so fast you can’t see ’em, and he knows where he’s throwing because if he didn’t there would be dead bodies strewn all over Idaho.” Once he developed a curveball, “The Big Train” became a runaway train, leading the league in wins for four consecutive seasons while topping the strikeout board eight straight times and twelve in all.

Game-Used Walter Johnson Bat Offered in MHCC March Auction

With a body of work that includes the all-time record for shutouts with 110, second all-time in wins with 417 and a career record in strikeouts that lasted for nearly 56 years, Walter Johnson is not only considered by many to be the greatest pitcher of his day but the greatest pitcher in baseball history. As incredible as his accomplishments were on the mound, he was remarkably skilled at the plate. A lifetime .235 hitter with 24 home runs, Johnson was called upon to pinch hit over 100 times in his career and, at age 37, batted .433 with two homers and 20 RBI in just 97 at-bats. Mile High Card Company is proud to offer a game-used Walter Johnson Louisville Slugger bat in the upcoming March auction, one of only three known to exist, authenticated and graded GU8 by PSA/DNA. Also available is the most significant card issue of Johnson ever produced; his absolutely stunning T204 Ramly card that rates as one of the highest ever graded at SGC 80 EX/MT+ 6.5. Both items are among the finest of a variety of high-profile items featured in the MHCC auction, which runs from February 20th through March 9th.