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There’s no getting around it. Major League Baseball fans, or really just baseball fans in general, love the home run. And what’s not to love? Players might be trying to hit them a little too much these days with the launch angle and such but it’s always exciting watching a ball leave the yard. Naturally, that feeling gets amplified in the World Series.

Some World Series home runs are a bit more memorable than others, such as Bill Mazeroski’s walk-off in 1960, Joe Carter’s shot to end the ’93 World Series, or the “We’ll see you tomorrow night” long ball from Kirby Puckett in 1991. But no matter the circumstance, they all count the same.

So who has the most home runs in World Series history? That’s actually a question that has a lot of answers. Are we talking about a single game, a single series, or the all-time record? Since we’re here, let’s take a look at all three.

Mickey Mantle has hit the most all-time home runs in the World Series

As the New York Yankees have made the most appearances in the World Series, it shouldn’t be a surprise that one of their all-time greats holds the top spot on the Fall Classic’s all-time home run list. In fact, more than half of the top 10 are players that donned the famous pinstripes.

Mickey Mantle holds the all-time lead with 18 World Series home runs. “The Mick” made 273 plate appearances in 65 games and helped the Yankees to seven championships. Here’s a look at the rest of the top 10.

  • Babe Ruth: 15 HR-167 plate appearances
  • Yogi Berra: 12 HR-295 plate appearances
  • Duke Snider: 11 HR-149 plate appearances
  • Lou Gehrig: 10 HR-150 plate appearances
  • Reggie Jackson: 10 HR-116 plate appearances
  • Joe DiMaggio: 8 HR-220 plate appearances
  • Bill Skowron: 8 HR-141 plate appearances
  • Frank Robinson: 8 HR-106 plate appearances

3 players are tied for the most home runs in a single Fall Classic

So now that we’ve gotten through the most all-time home runs in the World Series, let’s move on to the most long balls in a single Fall Classic. There are currently three players tied at the top of this particular list with five.

The latest to accomplish the feat was 2017 World Series MVP George Springer, who smacked five dingers to help the Houston Astros to the first championship in franchise history. In 2009, Chase Utley hit five home runs for the Philadelphia Phillies in a losing effort to the New York Yankees. And speaking of the Yankees, “Mr. October” himself, Reggie Jackson, hit five in the 1977 World Series, which leads us right into the single-game record.

Three players have hit three home runs in a single World Series game

Since the World Series was first played in 1903, only four players have hit three home runs in a single game.

Babe Ruth was the first to do it in Game 4 of the 1926 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, a series the Yankees lost, and also pulled it off in the Game 4 clincher over the Redbirds in 1928. Nearly half a century later, Reggie Jackson hit three home runs for the Yankees in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series against the LA Dodgers, which clinched the title for New York. Not only did Jackson hit his homers in three consecutive at-bats, he did it on three consecutive pitches.

In Game 3 of the 2011 World Series, Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols became the third player to hit three home runs in a single game of the Fall Classic as St. Louis clobbered the Texas Rangers, 16-7. Pujols was 5-for-6 that night with six runs batted in.

The most recent player to accomplish the historic feat was Pablo Sandoval, who went yard in his first three plate appearances for the San Francisco Giants in Game 1 of the 2012 World Series against the Detroit Tigers. Sandoval wouldn’t hit another home run in the four-game sweep but hit .500 for the series and was named World Series MVP.

All stats courtesy of Baseball Reference

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