Giancarlo Stanton became the 41st player in baseball history to reach 450 home runs in the New York Yankees’ 6-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday.
The Yankees slugger hit a three-run homer in the first inning off Orioles pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano to move past Hall of Famers Jeff Bagwell and Vladimir Guerrero on Major League Baseball’s all-time home run list.
Following consecutive two-out singles by Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger, Stanton reached low and away at an 84 mph sweeper from Sugano, swatting it the opposite way over the right-field wall at Camden Yards for his 21st home run of the season.
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The win also pushed the Yankees (87-68) to two games behind the Toronto Blue Jays (89-66) for first place in the AL East. The seven games remaining on the Yankees’ regular-season schedule are against the last-place Orioles (73-82) and last-place Chicago White Sox (58-96), the worst team in the American League.
With those seven games left, Stanton has an opportunity to break into the top 40 among the all-time home run leaders. Up next is Carl Yastrzemski, with 452 home runs.
Stanton is easily the home run leader among active players. The next closest is Mike Trout, who hit his 400th career homer on Saturday. After that is Stanton’s Yankees teammate, Paul Goldschmidt, who has 372 homers in his career.
Reaching 500 home runs definitely appears attainable for Stanton. He’s under contract with the Yankees for two more seasons with a club option for 2028. The question, as it often is with Stanton, is whether or not he can stay healthy. However, if he follows his usual production, the 16-year veteran should break into the 500-homer club within the next two years.
Even this season, when tendinitis in both of his elbows sidelined him until June 16, Stanton has surpassed 20 home runs in 70 games. During the seasons in which he’s played 120 games, he’s averaged 27 homers. Last year, that’s exactly the total he reached in 114 games.
He hit his 400th home run just over two years ago, on Sept. 5, 2023 versus the Detroit Tigers.
When Stanton hits his 494th career home run, he’ll pass Lou Gehrig and Fred McGriff — two more Hall of Famers — for 29th on the all-time list. After that will be joining the 28 other players in baseball history who have hit 500 or more homers. To get up to No. 28, he’ll have to hit 505 home runs to leapfrog Eddie Murray.
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