Baltimore Orioles: 10 Best Home-Run Hitters in Franchise History

Long balls are pretty. Everyone loves watching them leave the ballpark.

Except the team that gave up the dinger, of course.

Throughout the Baltimore Orioles' long history, they've had plenty of very intimidating power hitters slotted into the big spots in their batting order.

What I am going to do is rank the top ten in franchise history.

As the title suggests, I will be ranking the best home run threats the O's have had, which doesn't mean just listing the top ten franchise leaders in home runs.

No, I am going to go above and beyond the call of duty and try to rank them by their "intimidation factor", or in other words, how good of a power hitter they were. How afraid a pitcher was to face them. How much they were known for hitting the long-ball.

And to me, they are as follows...

10. Brady Anderson

A center fielder, Brady Anderson played with the Orioles for quite a while, from part of the 1988 season through 2001.

Only one of his 210 home runs didn't come as an O, putting him sixth on the franchise home run list.

But what really makes him stand out is his 1996 season, the season in which he set an Orioles record with 50 long-balls.

Outside of that season, however, he hit over 20 homers only two other times, with his second highest career mark at 24.

Everyone who is a Baltimore Orioles fan has been wondering what happened to Anderson during that 1996 season, and why it never happened again.

9. Miguel Tejada

The slugging shortstop out of the Dominican Republic came to Baltimore prior to the 2004 season, one year removed from winning the AL MVP award.

He stayed with the O's from 2004 through 2007, and then returned in 2010 before being traded at the non-waiver deadline that year.

During his four and a half years in Baltimore, he amassed 109 homers, and lived up to expectations right away, batting .311 in the 2004 season, tying his career high in homers (34) and setting a new one in RBI (150).

Between 2000 and 2006, he was regarded as one of the most feared run-producing hitters in the league, and was one of the best, if not the best, hitters at the shortstop position.

Now with the San Francisco Giants, Tejada has totaled 301 career homers thus far.

8. Brooks Robinson

Though Brooks finished his career with "only" 268 homers, he is ahead of Miguel Tejada on this list because of how Tejada has tailed off the past few seasons, where as Brooks stayed relatively consistent in terms of run production all throughout his career.

His ability to hit is what made him feared, and though he wasn't known for his power (a career high of 28 homers in a single season), he is in the fourth slot in the Orioles all-time franchise home run leaders.

His career .401 slugging percentage is a bit low when you're considering a power threat, but "The Human Vacuum Cleaner" deserves to make this list because of his consistent threat of knocking the ball out of the park.

And besides, he is probably the second-greatest Orioles in team history, after only Cal Ripken, Jr.

7. Harold Baines

Baines bounced around the league a lot, but not between many different teams, just many different times.

Throughout his career, he played mostly with the Chicago White Sox, but smacked out 107 round-trippers during his time with the Baltimore club.

A very reputable hitter during his time, he has 384 career home runs over 22 seasons. His slugging percentage sits at a .465 clip.

Consistently hitting over 20 homers a season, his career high is 29. Many times he'd drive in between 90 and 100 runs per year, proving time and time again he was a legitimate middle-of-the order threat to drive in runs.

6. Boog Powell

The man in my Bleacher Report profile picture with me ranks sixth on this list.

He hit 303 homers while playing with the Orioles, and 339 overall in his career.

The four-time all star has a career slugging percentage of .462.

One impressive stat of his is that being a slugging first baseman, he struck out over 100 times only once in his career.

in 1969, he set career-highs with 37 home runs and 121 RBI.

He ranks third on the Orioles' franchise home run list.

5. Albert Belle

I know, I know, many of you Orioles fans out there don't like Belle for retiring mid-way through his contract with the team

But you have to admit, hitting 381 homers over 12 seasons is pretty impressive.

Albert Belle was one of the most feared power hitters during his playing days, and for good reason. He hit anywhere from 30 to 50 homers between the seasons of 1992 and 1999.

Though he hit only 60 of those homers with the Orioles, he's easily one of the most feared home run hitters the O's have ever had, and his career .564 slugging percentage can back up that claim.

4. Cal Ripken, Jr.

Even though he has the most career home runs as an Oriole over anyone else in history, Baltimore's Iron Man ranks fourth on this list.

He wasn't the most feared home run hitter the O's ever had, and I don't think there are many people out there who will argue that. He was definitely a feared hitter, but there were players the O's have had who were better known for the long-ball than Ripken was.

I'm not going to tally off all of Cal's achievements, because everyone already knows what he's done, but primarily a shortstop, he hit 431 home runs during his playing days.

His slugging percentage sits at .447, and his career-high in homers is 34. In every season from 1982 and 1991, he hit 21 homers or more.

Cal was one of the best hitting shortstops in baseball history.

3. Eddie Murray

One of the best switch hitters of all time, Eddie Murray is one of four players in the exclusive 500 homer - 3,000 hit club.

Murray ranks second to Cal Ripken, Jr. in terms of most career home runs with the Orioles, as 343 of his 504 homers came while wearing the orange and black.

Over 21 seasons of play, Murray accumulated 3,255 base hits, and has a .476 career slugging percentage.

His career high in homers in a season came in 1983, when he hit 33 balls out of the park. Never putting up any extremely flashy single-season home run totals, Murray was a "Steady Eddie", if you will, and just kept on racking up the career bombs.

2. Rafael Palmeiro

Steroid allegations aside, Rafael Palmeiro was easily one of the most feared hitters in all of baseball during the 1990's and first half of the last decade.

He too is a member of the 500 homer - 3,000 hit club, but may never even sniff the Hall of Fame due to his link to steroid usage.

Topping out at 47 homers in a season twice, both times with the Texas Rangers, he managed to put 569 out in his career. Ranking fifth on the Orioles' all-time list, 223 of those homers were during his time in Baltimore.

He finished his career with a slugging percentage of .515 over 20 seasons.

1. Frank Robinson

Though he spent most of his time in Cincinnati with the Reds, Frank Robinson showcased the best power the Orioles franchise has ever had in their lineup during his six years in Baltimore.

Over 21 seasons, Robinson hit 586 big flies and finished his career with a .537 slugging percentage.

During his first season as an Orioles in 1966, he set a career high in homers during a single season by hitting 49 of them.

Of his 586 home runs, 179 of them came as an Oriole, ranking him ninth on the franchise's all-time list.

He hit 31 or more home runs in a season 11 times in his career, and that consistency is certainly what helped him tally up all those career homers, put him in the Hall of Fame, and made him the number one most feared home run hitter in Orioles history.