CHICKS DIG THE LONG BALL: 1953 Home Run Leaders

By TJ Troup 

Once upon a time, Sport Magazine was an outstanding publication chock full of insightful stories, and for some of us who enjoyed the "numbers" a short column by stat man Alan Roth that always had real fun stats. 

Couple Mr. Roth's column concerning the Home Run leaders in 1953 with the humorous commercial with Maddux and Glavine where they learned that "chicks dig the long ball". 

During the 1952 season the two men that hit the most home runs were Ralph Kiner and Hank Sauer with 37, and while that total is rock solid; it pales in comparison to what the following six sluggers did in 1953. Will begin with the sixth man on the list "Big Klu"—as he hit 40 homers. 

The most he had hit previously was 25. An excellent first baseman and for many years he hit for average. When I first saw him play with the White Sox in the stretch drive of the '59 pennant race heard the stories about how he wore his uniform with Cincinnati because of his massive arms. 

Next up is the National League MVP and one of the handful of truly great all-around catchers of all-time—Mr. Roy Campanella. Campy hit 41 homers, which is eight more than he had ever hit before. My dad shared with me that as great as left-hander Warren Spahn was; Braves managers hesitated having him start games at Ebbetts due to Dodger right-handed power, which of course included Campanella. 

The third member of our group is a teammate of Roy, one of the three best centerfielders in baseball during the decade of the '50's (bet you can guess the other two)—Duke Snider. Mr. Snider belted 42 homers and finished third in the MVP balloting that year, but even more impressive this is the first of his five straight 40 homer seasons. 

The least known of our six is Gus Zernial and previously the most homers he had hit was 33, but during '53 he slugged 42. Zernial finished second in the American League in home runs in '53 and was bested by league MVP Al Rosen who hit 43. Rosen was the best third baseman in the AL and had a high of 37 homers previously.  

Finally, the youngster who exploded hitting the long ball in his second season Mr. Eddie Mathews. His rookie season total of 25 demonstrated he could hit for power, but how many men who hit at least 25 as a rookie, improve that total by 22 in their second campaign? 

Mathews finished second in the National League MVP balloting and set a new standard for hitting on the road. Eddie hit just .258 at home, but when wearing road gray he hit .343! Though hitting for a high average on the road is no doubt impressive, the new standard he set was home runs on the road with 30! 

So, we have six men who hit at least 40 home runs in a season—the first time ever in baseball history. 

Chart: Stathead

Was there a day where they all hit one out? Sadly no, but on August 9th, August 1st, May 30th, and today May 29th sixty-eight years ago four of these sluggers hammered one out of the park, and yes Eddie Mathews is the only man of the six who accomplished this on all four days.