The position-by-position home run records of the San Francisco Giants

The San Diego Padres, being a funny team, made us all laugh over the weekend by congratulating Jedd Gyorko for breaking the all-time career record for home runs by a Padres second baseman. That record was 30 and held by Mark Loretta. Which is amazing. I wrote about it here, and it turns out there are even sadder records out there. Brandon Crawford would be tied for fourth on the Mets' all-time shortstop list, for example, if you ignore every season before this one.

I decided to look for the home run leaders for the San Francisco Giants at every position, and came up with a realization: About 10 players in, everything starts getting funny. Players who were around for just a season or two. Players you didn't remember fondly or otherwise. Players who make you laugh in a remember-that-guy? sense. The answer is 10. Ten players in.

As time goes on, this realization will get stretched and stretched. By 2090, you'll have to go 20 deep to get chuckles. For now, though, 10 will do. Which means it's time to list the top-10 home run leaders at every position for the Giants since they moved to San Francisco in 1958.

Note: While I'm doing this just since '58 because I'm both lazy and indifferent to the New York region, there's also a practical reason. The play-by-play logs are spotty before 1940, so it's impossible to search by positional splits back that far. My search for the Yankees told me that Cody Ransom hit more homers as a Yankees first baseman than Lou Gehrig, for example. I didn't follow up with more research, but that seemed incorrect to me.

Catcher

Rank	Player	Split	From	To	G	HR
1	Tom Haller	as C	1961	1967	689	105
2	Bob Brenly	as C	1981	1989	650	78
3	Buster Posey	as C	2009	2014	441	61
4	Dick Dietz	as C	1966	1971	478	58
5	Bengie Molina	as C	2007	2010	436	56
6	Ed Bailey	as C	1961	1965	267	47
7	Benito Santiago	as C	2001	2003	354	33
8	Bob Schmidt	as C	1958	1961	286	26
9	Bob Melvin	as C	1986	1988	239	24
9	Brian Johnson	as C	1997	1998	143	24

Three of the most important home runs in franchise history came from this group, though two of them don't count in the rankings. Santiago's dinger in the 2002 NLCS, Posey's grand slam in 2012, and Brian Johnson in 1997.

Whoops. I didn't do that. I have a macro built into the story editor that inserts that whenever I write "Buster Posey grand slam."

Whoops, my bad again, dang it.

First base

Rank	Player	Split	From	To	G	HR
1	Willie McCovey	as 1B	1959	1980	1747	390
2	Orlando Cepeda	as 1B	1958	1966	852	178
3	Will Clark	as 1B	1986	1993	1122	174
4	J.T. Snow	as 1B	1997	2005	1073	123
5	Darrell Evans	as 1B	1976	1983	280	51
6	Brandon Belt	as 1B	2011	2014	337	39
7	Dave Kingman	as 1B	1971	1974	181	30
8	Mike Ivie	as 1B	1978	1981	223	26
9	Aubrey Huff	as 1B	2010	2012	235	24
10	Mark Carreon	as 1B	1993	1996	156	22

Mark Carreon: #10. See? that's when things get funny.

Second base

Rank	Player	Split	From	To	G	HR
1	Jeff Kent	as 2B	1997	2002	845	171
2	Robby Thompson	as 2B	1986	1996	1264	119
3	Ray Durham	as 2B	2003	2008	675	74
4	Tito Fuentes	as 2B	1965	1974	820	25
5	Bill Madlock	as 2B	1977	1979	182	22
5	Joe Morgan	as 2B	1981	1982	205	22
7	Daryl Spencer	as 2B	1958	1959	165	14
8	Chuck Hiller	as 2B	1961	1965	386	12
9	Freddy Sanchez	as 2B	2009	2011	192	11
10	Ron Hunt	as 2B	1968	1970	349	10
10	Juan Uribe	as 2B	2009	2010	59	10

Gyorko would have ranked #4 all time on the San Francisco Giants, so maybe it's not that funny. Notice Freddy Sanchez's inclusion on this list, despite him never hitting a home run in his career. That I remember.

Shortstop

Rank	Player	Split	From	To	G	HR
1	Rich Aurilia	as SS	1995	2007	942	124
2	Chris Speier	as SS	1971	1989	897	57
3	Juan Uribe	as SS	2009	2010	141	25
4	Brandon Crawford	as SS	2011	2014	443	23
5	Eddie Bressoud	as SS	1958	1961	240	21
5	Johnnie LeMaster	as SS	1975	1985	905	21
7	Jose Pagan	as SS	1959	1965	586	19
7	Jose Uribe	as SS	1985	1992	951	19
9	Royce Clayton	as SS	1991	1995	496	18
10	Matt Williams	as SS	1987	1991	110	16

Matt Williams is 10th on the all-time Giants list ... as a shortstop. I wonder what he would have been like if the Giants stuck with him there, and whom they would have found to replace him.

Crawford is flying up the charts, already four past Johnnie Lemaster. Excelsior!

Third base

Rank	Player	Split	From	To	G	HR
1	Matt Williams	as 3B	1987	1996	998	228
2	Jim Ray Hart	as 3B	1963	1973	674	105
3	Pablo Sandoval	as 3B	2008	2014	728	96
4	Darrell Evans	as 3B	1976	1983	686	79
5	Pedro Feliz	as 3B	2000	2007	576	71
6	Jim Davenport	as 3B	1958	1970	1021	63
7	Dave Kingman	as 3B	1972	1974	137	36
8	Kevin Mitchell	as 3B	1987	1989	169	34
9	Chris Brown	as 3B	1984	1987	289	30
10	Bill Mueller	as 3B	1996	2002	537	26

Bill Mueller is the Freddy Sanchez of this list. Picture him hitting a home run. You can't.

Left field

Rank	Player	Split	From	To	G	HR
1	Barry Bonds	as LF	1993	2007	1875	574
2	Kevin Mitchell	as LF	1987	1991	425	109
3	Jeffrey Leonard	as LF	1981	1988	681	83
4	Gary Matthews	as LF	1972	1976	571	62
5	Willie McCovey	as LF	1962	1964	250	59
6	Jim Ray Hart	as LF	1964	1971	261	45
7	Orlando Cepeda	as LF	1959	1966	210	40
8	Ken Henderson	as LF	1965	1972	375	35
9	Pat Burrell	as LF	2010	2011	140	23
10	Terry Whitfield	as LF	1977	1980	332	20

And then you remember that Bonds was a two-time MVP before he even came to the Giants. He's fourth on the Pirates all-time list, too. Not their all-time list for left fielders: All Pirates ever. Only Stargell, Kiner, and Clemente had more.

Center field

Rank	Player	Split	From	To	G	HR
1	Willie Mays	as CF	1958	1972	1939	443
2	Chili Davis	as CF	1981	1987	530	67
3	Marquis Grissom	as CF	2003	2005	316	44
4	Marvin Benard	as CF	1995	2002	447	38
5	Aaron Rowand	as CF	2008	2011	420	37
6	Bobby Bonds	as CF	1968	1974	197	32
7	Garry Maddox	as CF	1972	1975	376	30
8	Randy Winn	as CF	2005	2009	178	21
9	Angel Pagan	as CF	2012	2014	286	16
9	Andres Torres	as CF	2009	2013	232	16
9	Gary Thomasson	as CF	1973	1977	163	16

This is a good list, a mix of greatness, homegrown players, ringz, and Randy Winn. Oh, how I wish the Giants had kept Chili Davis. At least let us look at what they did in the alternate universe.

Right field

Rank	Player	Split	From	To	G	HR
1	Jack Clark	as RF	1975	1984	956	157
2	Bobby Bonds	as RF	1968	1974	857	153
3	Felipe Alou	as RF	1958	1963	466	74
4	Ellis Burks	as RF	1998	2000	223	56
5	Glenallen Hill	as RF	1995	1997	317	53
6	Hunter Pence	as RF	2012	2014	344	50
6	Candy Maldonado	as RF	1986	1989	414	50
8	Willie Kirkland	as RF	1958	1960	356	49
9	Bobby Murcer	as RF	1975	1976	288	34
10	Randy Winn	as RF	2006	2009	417	28
10	Moises Alou	as RF	2005	2006	134	28

The same wish for Candy Maldonado goes for Jack Clark, too. Though without the Clark trade, the Giants don't get Jose Uribe, and they don't trade for Dave LaPoint, who was traded for Scott Medvin, who was traded for Rick Reuschel, who help the Giants win the pennant. Maybe that wasn't such a bad trade.

Pitcher

Rank	Player	Split	From	To	G	HR
1	Matt Cain	as P	2005	2014	266	6
1	Don Robinson	as P	1987	1991	106	6
3	Madison Bumgarner	as P	2009	2014	132	5
3	Bobby Bolin	as P	1961	1969	186	5
3	Jason Schmidt	as P	2001	2006	153	5
6	Russ Ortiz	as P	1998	2007	145	4
6	Juan Marichal	as P	1960	1973	444	4
6	Mike McCormick	as P	1958	1970	247	4
6	Jim Gott	as P	1985	1987	32	4
6	John Montefusco	as P	1974	1980	176	4

These are only for at-bats taken when the player is in the game as a pitcher, so Bumgarner's 40 as a pinch-hitter won't count. They'll show up on the next list.

Pinch hitter

Rank	Player	Split	From	To	G	HR
1	Willie McCovey	as PH	1959	1980	247	13
2	Jim Ray Hart	as PH	1964	1973	76	6
3	Shawon Dunston	as PH	1996	2002	82	5
3	Candy Maldonado	as PH	1986	1989	84	5
3	Aaron Rowand	as PH	2008	2011	63	5
3	Willie Mays	as PH	1958	1972	105	5
3	Ernie Riles	as PH	1988	1990	117	5
3	Darrell Evans	as PH	1976	1983	61	5
3	Mike Ivie	as PH	1978	1981	74	5
3	Joel Youngblood	as PH	1983	1988	233	5
3	Armando Rios	as PH	1998	2001	70	5

Aaron Rowand has one of the greatest pinch-hit-to-dinger ratios in franchise history. The Giants never won a game in which Rowand hit a pinch-hit homer, either.  Seems like you needed to know that.

The San Francisco Giants have employed some of the greatest players in baseball history. They also employed some players who weren't really close. There are some tables with both kinds. Hope you enjoyed it.