Homegrown​ home runs

Phil Gurnee ♦ August 8, 2016 ♦ 2 Comments

Eric Stephen put together the definitive look at the 300 home run club including anyone who ever played for the Dodgers that has hit 300 home runs and how many home runs they hit as Dodgers compared to their career.

What I liked about the list that Eric put together was quickly scanning the homegrown Dodgers who are on the list.

• Paul Konerko 439 / 4
• Adrian Beltre 429 / 147
• Mike Piazza 427 / 177
• Duke Snider 407 / 389
• Frank Howard 382 / 123
• Gil Hodges 370 / 361
• Ron Cey 316 / 228

That is a list that can make a grown man cry. Konerko was traded for a closer that didn’t help the Dodgers into the postseason as they only won 83 games.  1998 was not the best year for the Dodgers,  trading Piazza and Konerko within weeks of each other. By my count, the Dodgers traded away over 800 home runs. They did get 122 back from Sheffield so I guess I’ll round ball it at 650 home runs.

Beltre left as a free agent possibly the worse decision among many by the Depodesta regime, and of course  the Piazza deal, which brought us back a 300 home run hitter in Gary Sheffield. Check that, a 500 home run hitter in Gary Sheffield. Damn

One can only wonder what Frank Howard would have done with the Dodgers. He would have never had Ted Williams move his game to the next level but he’d surely have hit many a bomb for at the Ravine to the delight of Dodger fans. But the cost might have been the 1965 Championship.

I was a little surprised to see that Ron Cey hit so many home runs after he left the Dodgers.  If I had seen this list in 1990 I wouldn’t have been surprised but time had left me thinking that Cey only had a few productive years with the Cubs when the reality is quite different.

Duke and Gil did all their damage for the Dodgers, mostly for Brooklyn but each left their mark in Los Angeles.

That list has two current HOF in Duke Snider and Mike Piazza. One HOF to be in Adrian Beltre.  Vinny has long lamented about Gil Hodges not being in the HOF. Gil would generate as much fame as being the manager of the 1969 World Champion Mets as he ever garnered in his long Dodger playing career.