So, you want to know exactly how many home runs Babe Ruth hit? It’s 714. Yeah, that’s the magic number everyone throws around. But honestly, stopping there feels like just reading the back of a baseball card. There’s so much more bubbling under the surface of that number. How did he stack up against pitchers of his era? Why does it *still* matter? Was it really all just hot dogs and natural talent? I dug into the stats, the stories, even visited Cooperstown last fall, and man, the reality is wilder than the legend sometimes. Let’s break it down properly.
The Straight Answer: Breaking Down the 714
Alright, let's get the baseline facts out first. George Herman "Babe" Ruth hit 714 official Major League home runs during his regular season career. He did this playing for three teams:
- Boston Red Sox (1914-1919): Only 11 dingers here! Crazy, right? He started as a pitcher mostly.
- New York Yankees (1920-1934): This is where the legend exploded – 659 home runs in pinstripes. That’s where he truly became 'The Sultan of Swat'.
- Boston Braves (1935): Just 6 more homers in his final, brief stint.
So, adding Boston Red Sox (11) + Yankees (659) + Braves (6) gets you to the famous 714. But here’s the kicker people forget: how many home runs did Babe Ruth hit if you count his entire professional career, including exhibitions and barnstorming tours? Estimates push it well over 800, maybe even close to 900. Those don't count in the official MLB record books, though. The official tally is cemented at 714.
Hold up – wasn’t there some controversy? Yep. Record-keeping back then wasn't like today's laser-focused stats. A few homers were debated over the years. Did that ground rule double actually clear the fence? Was that rain-shortened game official? Historians have mostly ironed it out, and 714 is the universally accepted number. Phew. Dodged a nerdy stats war there.
Year-by-Year Breakdown: When Did Ruth Hit Those Homers?
You can't understand Ruth's power without seeing how it exploded. Look at this season-by-season tally. It wasn't a steady climb; it was like flipping a switch.
| Season | Team | Home Runs | Notes That Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1914 | Red Sox | 0 | Pitched in 4 games. Barely batted. |
| 1915 | Red Sox | 4 | Still primarily a pitcher. Won 18 games! |
| 1916 | Red Sox | 3 | Led AL in ERA (1.75). Seriously. |
| 1917 | Red Sox | 2 | Another 24 wins pitching. Power still dormant. |
| 1918 | Red Sox | 11 | Started playing OF more. Power flickering. |
| 1919 | Red Sox | 29 | THE BREAKOUT. Broke single-season record! |
| 1920 | Yankees | 54 | Shattered his own record. More than entire TEAMS! |
| 1921 | Yankees | 59 | Set new record again. Unreal consistency. |
| 1922 | Yankees | 35 | "Down year." Still topped the league. |
| 1923 | Yankees | 41 | First season in Yankee Stadium, "The House That Ruth Built". |
| 1924 | Yankees | 46 | Just casually hitting 40+ again. |
| 1925 | Yankees | 25 | "The Bellyache Heard 'Round the World." Bad year. |
| 1926 | Yankees | 47 | Major bounce back. Proved the doubters wrong. |
| 1927 | Yankees | 60 | The legendary season. Record stood 34 years. |
| 1928 | Yankees | 54 | Ho-hum, another 50+ season. |
| 1929 | Yankees | 46 | Still the most feared hitter in baseball. |
| 1930 | Yankees | 49 | Age 35 and still raking. |
| 1931 | Yankees | 46 | Last truly elite power season. |
| 1932 | Yankees | 41 | "Called Shot" World Series homer. |
| 1933 | Yankees | 34 | Decline becoming noticeable. |
| 1934 | Yankees | 22 | Final year with Yankees. |
| 1935 | Braves | 6 | Brief stint. Hit last 3 homers in one game. |
See that insane run from 1926 to 1931? Six seasons averaging over 47 homers per year. In the 1920s! While contemporaries were hitting 15-20, he was doubling and tripling that. It rewrote the game. Fans didn't just want wins; they wanted to see Ruth launch one. Changed the economics of baseball forever.
Putting 714 in Context: Ruth vs. His Era vs. Today
Just saying "714" doesn't cut it. You gotta see how utterly ridiculous this was compared to everyone else playing at the time. It’s like comparing a Saturn V rocket to a bicycle.
| Player | Career HR (Through 1935) | Single-Season High |
|---|---|---|
| Babe Ruth | 714 | 60 (1927) |
| Lou Gehrig | ***347*** (He was active!) | 47 (1927, 1931) |
| Jimmie Foxx | ***302*** (Active) | 58 (1932) |
| Rogers Hornsby | 301 | 42 (1922) |
| Mel Ott | ***324*** (Active) | 42 (1929) |
| AL League Average HR per Team (1927) | ~50 | N/A |
| Ruth's HR (1927) | 60 | N/A |
Sit with that for a second. In his peak year (1927), Ruth hit more home runs by himself than any other entire TEAM in the American League besides his own Yankees. The Philadelphia Athletics, as a team, hit 56 homers. Ruth hit 60. Solo. That level of dominance is almost incomprehensible today. Even Mike Trout or Aaron Judge, incredible as they are, aren't *that* far ahead of the pack in the modern game.
Ruth vs. The Modern Game: Adjusting for Era
Okay, but what about Barry Bonds? Hank Aaron? How does how many home runs did Babe Ruth hit actually stack up if we try to level the playing field? This is where it gets nerdy and fascinating.
- TheBall: Dead ball early in Ruth's career, then the "live ball era" started around 1920. The ball was less consistent, often softer, harder to hit far compared to today's tightly wound, humidor-stored balls.
- Travel & Scheduling: Train travel, brutal schedules, fewer off days. Ruth played through injuries we'd DL players for today.
- Pitching: Fewer specialized pitchers, but also starters going deeper. Ruth saw the same pitcher multiple times a game. Imagine facing prime Scherzer 3-4 times every game!
- Fields: Massive outfields in parks like the Polo Grounds. No short porches.
- Integration: Ruth didn't face the immense talent pool of Black and Latino players that entered the league after 1947. This is a major, legitimate point when comparing eras. How would he have fared against Satchel Paige or Josh Gibson? We'll never know, and it complicates GOAT conversations.
Statisticians use metrics like ERA+ (adjusted for ballpark and era) or OPS+ to compare across generations. Ruth's career OPS+ is 206. Meaning he was 106% better than the league average hitter during his time. Bonds is next best at 182. Mike Trout? Around 176. By this measure, Ruth's dominance over his peers remains unmatched. So, while raw totals are eclipsed, his relative greatness arguably still tops the chart. Is 714 "better" than 755 or 762? It's a messy, fun bar argument, but the adjusted stats heavily favor Ruth.
Beyond the Number: Why Ruth's Homer Total Was Revolutionary
Focusing solely on how many home runs did Babe Ruth hit misses his real impact. He didn't just hit home runs; he invented the concept of the home run *hitter* as the star attraction. Before Ruth, baseball was mostly a contact/speed/small-ball game. Home runs were accidents. Ruth swung for the fences deliberately, constantly. Managers hated it initially! Sacrificing an out for a *chance* at a homer? Madness! But fans went wild. Attendance exploded wherever he played. He built Yankee Stadium. He saved baseball after the Black Sox scandal. The game shifted from pitcher-dominated to hitter-dominated almost overnight because of him. That seismic shift is arguably more important than whether he hit 714 or 715.
Personal aside: Seeing the scale of Yankee Stadium in person (the old photos anyway) compared to the tiny Baker Bowl or Polo Grounds really hammers this home. They literally built a stadium anticipating where *his* home runs would land. No player before or since had that kind of gravitational pull on the sport's infrastructure.
The Chase: Who Held the Record After Ruth?
Ruth's 714 stood as the Mount Everest of baseball for decades. Who finally scaled it? Here's the lineage:
- Babe Ruth: Retired in 1935 with 714. The unchallenged King.
- Hank Aaron: Broke the record on April 8, 1974, hitting #715 off Al Downing. Finished with 755. The ultimate model of consistent power and longevity. Chased amidst terrible racism and threats – his achievement is monumental on multiple levels.
- Barry Bonds: Passed Aaron on August 7, 2007, hitting #756. Finished with 762. Bonds' association with PEDs casts a permanent shadow over this record for many fans and historians. It's the most controversial of the three.
So, Ruth held the crown for 39 years. Aaron held it for 33. Bonds has held it for 17 (and counting, though unlikely to be broken soon given testing). Ruth's reign was the longest, born in an era completely transformed by the very achievement he was setting.
Common Questions About Ruth's Home Runs
Q: How many home runs did Babe Ruth hit in the World Series?
A: Ruth was a clutch postseason performer. He hit 15 home runs across 10 World Series appearances (41 games). His famous "called shot" in the 1932 Series against the Cubs is legend, though whether he truly pointed is debated. He holds the record for highest career World Series slugging percentage (.744!).
Q: Did Babe Ruth ever hit 3 home runs in a game?
A: He did it more than once! Ruth actually hit three homers in a single game an incredible four times during his regular season career (May 6, 1926; July 13, 1926; July 19, 1927; and August 1, 1930). He also hit three in a World Series game on October 6, 1928. Talk about showing off.
Q: How many inside-the-park home runs did Babe Ruth hit?
A: Surprisingly, quite a few early on. Of his first 136 career home runs, a significant portion (estimates suggest around 30-40) were inside-the-parkers! As he gained pure power and the ball became livelier, these became less frequent. By his Yankees years, he was mostly clearing fences cleanly.
Q: What was the longest home run Babe Ruth ever hit?
A: Measuring historical homers is tricky with inconsistent methods. Ruth hits credited as over 500 feet are numerous, though potentially exaggerated. One famous candidate is a June 1921 blast at Tiger Stadium (Navin Field) estimated at 575 feet. A May 1926 shot at Tampa's Plant Field might have gone 587 feet. His final homer as a Yankee at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh (May 25, 1935) is said to be the first to clear the right field roof – a feat unmatched for decades. Whether any truly exceeded 600 feet is doubtful, but 500+ was certainly achievable for him in the right park with the wind. Modern physics analysis of film suggests many of the legendary distances might be overstated, but he still hit balls incredibly far for any era.
Q: How old was Babe Ruth when he hit his last home run?
A: Ruth was 40 years and 4 months old when he hit his final three home runs on May 25, 1935, playing for the Boston Braves against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field. Incredibly, he hit all three in the same game! Number 712 was a 2-run shot off Guy Bush in the 1st inning. Number 713 was another 2-run homer off Bush in the 3rd. And his final blast, number 714, was a solo shot off Bush again in the 5th inning. A fittingly explosive farewell.
The Legacy: Why "How Many Home Runs Did Babe Ruth Hit?" Still Resonates
714 isn't just a number. It's a symbol. It represents the birth of modern power hitting. It's a benchmark against which every slugger is measured, even a century later. Baseball is a game obsessed with numbers and history, and Ruth's 714 sits at the absolute center of that universe. When Aaron passed him, it was a national event. When Bonds passed Aaron, it was tinged with controversy, partly because Ruth's legacy as the first king felt somehow purer to many.
Visiting the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, seeing his bat, his glove, the pictures... it makes you realize the sheer force of his personality matched his swing. The number 714 is etched there, simple and bold. It’s less about the precise tally and more about the seismic shift it represents in America’s pastime. Understanding how many home runs did Babe Ruth hit is step one. Understanding *why* that number changed everything is the real story. That’s what keeps fans, historians, and even casual observers asking the question decades after his final swing.
Stats fade. Legends endure. Ruth is both.