MLB/NPB/KBO 500 home run club

Five hundred career home runs. The total is a remarkable feat, reached only by a small selection of those who have played baseball at its highest levels — namely the three prominent major leagues: MLB, the NPB (Japan), and the KBO (Korea).

28 players in MLB history have topped the 500-homer plateau. It may be some time before we see another join the exclusive club. Giancarlo Stanton sits atop the active list with 429 and is under contract for at least three more seasons (the Yankees hold a club option for a fourth). There are no certainties his legs will hold up long enough to hit another 71, but Stanton has averaged 23 homers a year since being traded to New York.

Of the top 10 active leaders, only Manny Machado (342) and Bryce Harper (336) are under 32 years old and each has already dealt with several substantial injuries in their careers.

Just eight players in NPB history have topped the 500-homer mark, with a ninth (Hideki Matsui) getting credit if we combine his NPB and MLB numbers.

Legendary KBO slugger Seung-youp Lee can also consider himself a part of the club when we total his KBO and NPB numbers.

Josh Gibson is often brought up as one of the sport’s greatest home run hitters, but many of the records from Negro Leagues games remain incomplete. Researchers have diligently worked to find clarity on the many available box scores, determining whether games were considered official or simply exhibitions, especially since MLB began officially recognizing the Negro Leagues records in late 2020.

Stories suggest Gibson hit nearly 900 home runs in his career, but Baseball Reference has his official total at 166 while the Seamheads Negro League Database has it at 240. For argument’s sake, we’ll leave him out of the club below but we will include home runs hit in the Negro Leagues in our overall totals.

Collectively, that gives us an all-time leaderboard that looks like this:

1. Sadaharu Oh, 868

2. Barry Bonds, 762

3. Henry Aaron, 760 (755 MLB, 5 in the Negro Leagues)

4. Babe Ruth, 714

5. Albert Pujols, 703

6. Alex Rodriguez, 696

7. Willie Mays, 661 (660 MLB, 1 in the Negro Leagues)

8. Katsuya Nomura, 657

9. Ken Griffey Jr., 631

10. Seung-youp Lee, 626 (467 KBO, 159 NPB)

11. Jim Thome, 612

12. Sammy Sosa, 609

13. Frank Robinson, 586

14. Mark McGwire, 583

15. Harmon Killebrew, 573

16. Rafael Palmeiro, 569

17. Hiromitsu Kadota, 567

18. Reggie Jackson, 563

19. Manny Ramirez, 555

20. Mike Schmidt, 548

21. David Ortiz, 541

22. Mickey Mantle, 536

23. Koji Yamamoto, 536

24. Jimmie Foxx, 534

25. Kazuhiro Kiyohara, 525

26. Willie McCovey, 521

27. Frank Thomas, 521

28. Ted Williams, 521

29. Ernie Banks, 512

30. Eddie Matthews, 512

31. Miguel Cabrera, 511

32. Mel Ott, 511

33. Hiromitsu Ochiai, 510

34. Gary Sheffield, 509

35. Hideki Matsui, 508 (332 NPB, 175 MLB)

36. Isao Harimoto, 504

37. Sachio Kinugasa, 504

38. Eddie Murray, 504

One of the most prolific hitters in the KBO over the last 20 years, Jeong Choi, is on the verge of being the 39th member of the club.

The 37-year-old third baseman batted .291/.384/.594 this year for the SSG Landers, adding 37 home runs to put his career mark at 495. Back in April, he broke Lee’s KBO career record when he hit his 468th homer.

Choi’s entire career has been spent with the Landers (though the club was formerly known as the SK Wyverns for much of his career) and reached free agency following the 2024 season. Choi quickly re-signed with the Landers, agreeing to a four-year deal that will likely keep him with the club through the remainder of his career.