4 MLB Players Who Hit 400 Homers and Won’t Make the Hall of Fame
Certain round-number statistical thresholds, or “magic numbers,” traditionally earn an MLB player enshrinement into the Baseball Hall of Fame: 3,000 hits, 300 wins, and 500 home runs.
But what about 400 home runs? That’s still a ton of long balls, especially when you consider the consistency and longevity one much reach at the plate to hit 20 homers a year for two decades. Or 30 homers a year for a hair more than 13 seasons. Or … well, you get the picture. It’s an incredible feat no matter how you slice it.
However, when you scan the list of major leaguers who hit 400 or more long balls and still haven’t gained entry into the hall, you begin to challenge conventional wisdom. Why? Because other parts of their game were lacking. So, here are four players who did hit 400 HRs and still won’t make it into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
1. Paul Konerko
Take the case of six-time All-Star Paul Konerko. In 18 years with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, and Chicago White Sox — he spent 16 of those seasons with Chicago — the outfielder-turned-first-baseman hit 439 home runs. Konerko’s career high occurred in 2004 when he launched 41 long balls.
Despite the strong stats in the homer column, Konerko only topped 100 RBI six times and finished as high as fifth in MVP voting once (2010). He topped 100 free passes five times but only batted .300 or better four times. A Southside fan favorite, Konerko won the 2005 ALCS MVP but retired with 28.1 WAR, ranking him outside the top 80 all-time among first basemen.
As a fielder, Konerko made the plays expected of him but did so with limited range, resulting in a negative fielding differential across each of the three positions he manned. In 2020, when he was first eligible for the Hall of Fame, he garnered just 2.5% of the vote, below the 5% threshold necessary to stay on the ballot. His fate now lies with the Veterans Committee, as he will be eligible in 2029. As a point of reference, Fred McGriff and his 493 home runs did receive election in 2023 via the Contemporary Era.
2. Alfonso Soriano
After a less-than-fortuitous start to his professional career in Japan, Alfonso Soriano signed with the New York Yankees in 1998. His first full season came in 2001 as he helped the Bombers reach the World Series and finished third in the American League Rookie of the Year race.
Over the course of 16 big league seasons that took him from the Yankees to the Texas Rangers, Washington Nationals, and Chicago Cubs before he rejoined the Yankees, Soriano hit 412 home runs and drove in 1,159 runs. A seven-time All-Star (2004 ASG MVP), the speedy infielder-turned-outfielder averaged 34 dingers a year across 16 seasons but never led either league in homers.
While averaging 24 steals a season (289 SB total), Soriano had a terrible strikeout-to-walk ratio, averaging 41 walks to 148 Ks per season. Despite winning four Silver Slugger Awards, the native of San Pedro de Macoris topped 150 whiffs four times in his career, which contributed to the fact that he hit .300 just once (2002).
Never a slick fielder, Soriano scored poorly in his Total Runs Zone Filtering Above Average (Rtot) score with a paltry mark of -75 as a second baseman. But he was a +34 in the outfield, so perhaps it shouldn’t have taken nine seasons for a position switch. Much like Konerko, Soriano failed to gain enough votes in his first year on the Hall of Fame ballot (1.5%) to ever make a second attempt.
3. Carlos Delgado
Raise your hand if you aren’t a Toronto Blue Jays fan and still remember Carlos Delgado hitting 473 home runs.
Perhaps because Delgado played 12 of his 17 major league seasons north of the border, he doesn’t get the recognition he deserves. Delgado was a solid, if not spectacular, hitter who played on many bad teams, only reaching the playoffs once with the 2006 New York Mets.
A three-time Silver Slugger and two-time All-Star, Delgado swatted 473 home runs and drove in 1,512 runs. That’s a 162-game average of 38 dingers and 120 RBI. Throw in the fact that he’s a lifetime .280 hitter with over 2,000 hits, and, well, one could make a solid case for Delgado’s entrance into Cooperstown.
However, the fact that the 2006 Roberto Clemente Award winner wasn’t an everyday designated hitter actually goes against his possible enshrinement. Unlike David Ortiz, who would only wear a first baseman’s mitt in the earliest days of interleague play, Delgado, who reached the bigs as a catcher, transitioned to left field (58 career games) and then first base permanently.
Over 1,767 games at first, Delgado was serviceable with his .992 fielding percentage. But his -34 Rtot and 126 errors at the bag didn’t do him any favors. Had Delgado DH’d more than just 182 times in his career, keeping his body fresh and allowing him to concentrate solely on hitting three or four times per game, he could have improved upon the 44.4 WAR that can’t rise higher than 40th among first baseman.
In 2015, Delgado received just 3.8% of the vote, but he was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame that same year. So at least that’s a win.
4. Dave Kingman
Dave Kingman is noted more for the height and length of his towering home runs than his sheer numbers. At 6-foot-6, Kong (as he was affectionately called) smacked 442 home runs in his 16-year career. Kingman, who came up with the San Francisco Giants in 1971, seemingly always had his bags packed with pit stops in New York (Mets and Yankees), Chicago (Cubs), and California (A’s, Padres, Angels).
The former USC standout was a zero-sum gamer who either hit a monstrous blast or struck out badly. Sky King (another sweet nickname) averaged a whopping 152 Ks per season.
A three-time All-Star, Kingman’s prodigious power kept him in most lineups without a true position to play, thanks in part to 174 career errors. Not only did he see time at both corner infield and outfield spots, but Kingman even took the mound for four innings in 1973, racking up a 9.00 ERA, six walks, and two wild pitches versus 21 batters.
Kingman was first eligible for the Hall of Fame in 1992. However, he was named on only three ballots and was excluded from future eligibility. At the time, Kingman was the first MLB player to hit 400 home runs and be denied Hall of Fame entry. He certainly won’t be the last.
Statistics courtesy of ESPN and Baseball Reference.
