David Ortiz: Welcome to MLB's 400-HR Club

Boston DH David Ortiz became the 49th member of the 400-HR Club with his fourth-inning home run yesterday against the Oakland A’s.

It’s fitting that Ortiz hit his milestone on the road since 217 of his 400 career homers (54.3 percent) have been hit away from his home park. The 54.3 percent of home runs hit on the road is the third highest percentage of road home runs by players who have hit 400 or more home runs in their career. Of the 49 players in the 400-HR Club, 27 have hit more home runs at home than on the road.

Here’s a look at the members of the 400-HR Club who have hit the highest percentage of their home runs on the road.

Player, Pct of HRs on the road, Road HRs/Total HRs

Juan Gonzalez, 54.6, 237/434

Mike Piazza, 54.3, 232/427

David Ortiz, 54.3, 217/400

Albert Pujols, 54.1, 248/458

Willie Stargell, 53.5, 254/475

Eddie Mathews, 53.5, 274/512

Andruw Jones, 53.2, 227/427

Dave Winfield, 53.1, 247/465

Here’s a look at the members of the 400-HR Club who have hit the highest percentage of their home runs at home.

Player, Pct. of HRs at home, Home HRs/Total HRs

Mel Ott, 63.2, 323/511

Frank Thomas, 59.9, 312/521

Paul Konerko, 59.8, 245/410

Billy Williams, 57.5, 245/426

Following are a few additional stats regarding Ortiz and his fellow 400-HR brethren.

* Ortiz hit his HR in the fourth inning. Of the 49 400-HR members, No. 400 has been hit more frequently in the fifth and third innings, both with nine apiece.

* Ortiz hit No. 400 with the Red Sox behind in the game. Of the 49 400-HR members, No. 400 has been hit most often (19 times) with that player’s team ahead in the games. The team was behind in the games 18 times, and the score was tied 12 times when the player hit HR No. 400.

* Ortiz hit his No. 400 with no one out. He was the 20th player to do so. Twenty players have hit their 400th home run with two outs; nine hit their 400th homer with one out.

It took Ortiz seven days after he hit No. 399 to hit his 400th home run. Five players hit No. 400 in the same game that they hit No. 399 (Vladimir Guerrero, Jeff Bagwell, Carlos Delgado, Alex Rodriguez and Hank Aaron) and six players hit No. 400 the day after they hit No. 399 (Darrell Evans, Stan Musial, Lou Gehrig, Manny Ramirez, Sammy Sosa and Ken Griffey, Jr.).

Eight players had to wait ten or more days after No. 399 to hit No. 400. They were (days after HR No. 399 that they hit No. 400 is listed in parenthesis):

Cal Ripken (38)

Carl Yastrzemski (24)

Dave Kingman (17)

Billy Williams (15)

Jason Giambi (14)

Mickey Mantle (12)

Harmon Killebrew (12)

Eddie Murray (11)

Two players, Andre Dawson and Eddie Mathews, hit No. 399 in one season and had to wait until the following season to hit No. 400.

Resource: www.baseball-reference.com

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