The best home-run hitters in Philadelphia Phillies history
9. Cy Williams, 1918-30 Phillies
The Phillies had home-run hitters before it was de rigueur. Cy Williams led MLB and the NL twice each in home runs, back when 12 home runs were considered a lot.
Williams spent the first six seasons of his career with the Chicago Cubs, before spending the remaining 13 in Philadelphia. With the Phillies, his offensive production increased, and he hit double-digit home runs every season from 1920-28, after only reaching double-digits twice in the first eight years of his career.
In 1923, Williams hit a career-high, MLB-leading 41 home runs. He never came close to replicating it again.
To put Williams’ 1923 season in context, Babe Ruth, the Sultan of Swat, had his first 20+ HR season in 1919, followed by two 50+ HR seasons. In 1923, the Yankees won their first championship in franchise history, and Ruth tied Williams for the MLB lead with 41 homers of his own.
8. Jim Thome, 2003-05 Phillies
Jim Thome wasn’t a Phillie for very long, but he had two incredible seasons in 2003 and 2004, in which he homered 47 and 42 times, respectively.
Thome’s 47-HR season is tied for third-most in a single season by a Phillies hitter, and his 42-HR season ranks ninth all-time.
Thome was a slugging machine when he came to Philadelphia from Cleveland, where he had hit 52 home runs in 2002, his seventh consecutive season of 30+ home runs. Somehow, he only won one Silver Slugger.
The infielder finished his Hall of Fame career with 612 career home runs, 101 of them hit in a Phillies uniform, which is impressive, considering he only played 391 games here.
7. Greg Luzinski, 1970-80 Phillies
Greg Luzinski spent the bulk of his 15-year career with the Philadelphia Phillies, and his 223 home runs with the franchise rank seventh all-time, ahead of Cy Williams, Jimmy Rollins, and Dick Allen.
The mid-70s were an especially productive time for Luzinski, who was an All-Star four seasons in a row from 1975-78, hit 129 home runs, and was a two-time MVP runner-up over that span. He averaged 27 home runs per 162 games in his career.
In his final season with the Phillies, they won their first championship. It only took 97 years.
6. Chase Utley
Chase Utley is one of those players we’d like to pretend spent his entire career in a Phillies uniform.
In reality, he spent 13 years with the Phillies, and in that final year, was traded to the Dodgers, where he spent the remainder of his career, before retiring after the 2018 season.
But in his 13 seasons and 1,551 games with the Phillies, Utley hit 233 of his 259 career home runs. Between 2006-10, he was an All-Star every year and hit 134 home runs. He also won four Silver Slugger awards during that span.
5. Dick Allen
Should-be Hall of Famer Dick Allen had double-digit home-run seasons in 13 of his 15 years in the majors, and the only two seasons in which he didn’t were when he played fewer than 60 games.
After not hitting a single home run in his brief 10-game 1963 debut, Allen hit 29 home runs in his real rookie season in 1964 and won Rookie of the Year. Between 1964-69, he hit .300 with 177 home runs in 856 games.
When Allen returned to the Phillies in 1975, he hit another 27 home runs over the following two seasons, bringing his franchise grand total to 204.
4. Chuck Klein, 1928-33, 36-39, 40-44 Phillies
Chuck Klein had a 17-year MLB career, including three stints with the Phillies, which combined for 15 years.
His greatest years were the early ones, including his NL-leading 43-homer season in 1929, and his subsequent NL-best 31, 38 and 28-homer seasons between 1931-33.
In 1932, after being the runner-up for the MVP award the year before, Klein won MVP by hitting .348/.404/.646 with a 1.050 OPS, 152 runs scored, 226 hits, 50 doubles, 15 triples, 38 home runs, 137 RBI, and 20 stolen bases. He led the NL in games played, home runs, stolen bases, slugging, OPS, and total bases, and led MLB in runs scored and hits.
3. Pat Burrell
Pat Burrell spent 12 years in the majors, and nine of them were with the Phillies.
In his rookie season, Burrell hit 18 home runs in 111 games and finished fourth in 2000 NL MVP voting. After that, he hit 20+ HR in every other season of his Phillies tenure.
In terms of individual seasons, Burrell’s 2002 campaign ranks T-11th in franchise history, with 37 home runs, his 2008 season (33 HR) ranks T-15, and his 2005 season (32 HR) is T-16.
Burrell finished his time in Philadelphia with 251 home runs and a 2008 World Series ring.
2. Mike Schmidt, 1972-89 Phillies
Mike Schmidt is probably the greatest Phillie ever. Over his 18-year career – all of which was spent with the Phillies – he averaged 37 home runs per 162 games.
Schmidt led MLB in home runs six times, and led the NL twice, each time hitting 30+ home runs. He had 13 seasons of 30+ home runs. In 1980 and 1981, he won back-to-back MVP awards and hit a combined 79 home runs.
In a weird-but-awesome twist of fate, Schmidt and Ryan Howard each homered 48 times during the season in which their teams won the only championships in franchise history.
1. Ryan Howard,
Deciding between Ryan Howard and Mike Schmidt for the top spot was hard. Schmidt is the all-time franchise home-run leader, but he also didn’t have the injuries that tormented Howard throughout his career, which impeded his progress.
Howard gets the edge for a few reasons. His 58 home runs in 2006 were outrageous, and no other Phillies slugger has ever come close. Even Howard himself never got within 10 homers of his career-high again. He spent his entire 13-year career with the Phillies and twice led MLB in home runs.
He also became the fastest player in MLB history to reach both 100 and 200 career home runs. So while Schmidt’s longevity is admirable, we’re giving Howard the top spot because his star just shined so brightly, albeit briefly.
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