The 1996 MLB season is known for a few things. It was the genesis of the New York Yankees dynasty. Alex Rodriguez burst onto the scene. Players started taking performance enhancing drugs. And a lot of home runs were hit.
A total of 4,962 to be exact. The 1996 MLB season home run total would be surpassed in 1998, a year best known for the exploits of Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire. The record has since been obliterated several times, but no single year was as outlandish as 1996. Here’s what made it so crazy.
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11 facts about home runs during the 1996 MLB season
1) 61 but not Roger Maris
It turns out that 61 is a big number when it comes to home runs. Roger Maris set the single-season home run record with 61 dingers in 1961. In 1996, 61 players hit 25 or more home runs. As you’ll see, a lot of these guys weren’t exactly known as power hitters.
2) Brady Freaking Anderson
Baltimore Orioles outfielder Brady Anderson was a solid leadoff hitter who hit 210 home runs over the course of 15 seasons. However, 50 of those came in 1996. 50! In the two seasons before that, he hit a total of 28 homers. Anderson could only muster 36 home runs in the two seasons after 1996.
3) Bad to the Bone
One of the things that was lost during the home run frenzy of 1996 was the performance of Jay Buhner. The man they called Bone was in the middle of a great three-year stretch where he hit 40,44 and 40 dingers. He only made one All-Star team during this time and was overshadowed in Seattle by this Ken Griffey Jr. guy.
4) Home Run Derby becomes a thing
The Home Run Derby wasn’t much of a spectacle until 1996 when Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds put on a real show. Also, the 1996 All-Star Game was held at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia for some reason. Could you imagine an All-Star Game being held at such a dumpy venue?
5) A Terry Steinbach outburst
As a kid, I would get a ton of Terry Steinbach cards when opening up Donruss packs. After he smashed 35 dingers in 1996, you could forgive me for thinking they may have become valuable. Unfortunately, his outburst was a total outlier and those cards are worth nothing. Steinbach averaged 10.5 home runs in his 12 other full seasons.
6) Who the hell is Bernard Gilkey?
I know a thing or two about baseball in the 1990s, but Bernard Gilkey was a name I did not remember. He hit 30 round trippers with the Mets in 1996 but that was overshadowed by Todd Hundley’s 41 homers. Only one other Met that season, Butch Huskey, had more than ten. I still have no recollection of Gilkey whatsoever. He may actually be one of those generic players from Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball.
7) The 30-homer club
There were 43 players who managed to hit at least 25 home runs in 1996. Only 33 hitters managed to top that mark in 1998.
8) Benito Santiago explodes
Benito Santiago looked like he was 40-years old when he was a rookie in 1986 and had a solid 20-year career. However, he only hit more than 18 home runs once during his time in the majors. That was 1996 when he somehow mashed 30 four baggers.
9) Barry Bonds finishes 9th
That’s right. Even though home runs were being hit by just about every player imaginable, Barry Bonds only had 42. That was good for ninth place on the home run leaderboard. Playing at Candlestick Park, then known as 3Com Park, didn’t help, but you still would have expected him to finish higher than ninth.
10) Even Barry Larkin gets in on the act
Even Barry Larkin managed to hit 33 home runs. Larkin was a Hall of Fame player who won the MVP in 1995. Of course, he only hit 15 dingers that year.
11) This is just plain silly
How messed up was 1996? Kevin Elster hit 24 round trippers in 1996. That is just ridiculous. Elster was a 31-year old utilityman at the time. He only hit 88 homers in his entire career. It just goes to show literally anyone who could hit a baseball was a power guy in 1996.
