Baltimore Orioles: The Five Best Home Run Hitters of All-Time
1. Frank Robinson, RF
On December 9th, 1965, the Cincinnati Reds traded Hall of Famer Frank Robinson to the Baltimore Orioles. In return, the Orioles sent Jack Baldschun, Milt Pappas, and Dick Simpson to the Reds. Before being traded to the Orioles, Robinson had already clobbered 324 home runs in 10 seasons with Reds including a Rookie of the Year Award and named NL MVP in 1961.
In his first season with the Orioles, Robinson delivered one of the most magnificent performances in MLB history. He produced a career-high 49 home runs in 1966, en route to 179 home runs in six seasons with the Orioles. Not only did Robinson lead the league in home runs during the 1966 season, but was the league leader in RBIs (122) and batting average (.316) to win the Triple Crown. As the winner of the AL Triple Crown, Robinson was named AL MVP the same season.
In 1966, the 30-year-old slugger launched the Orioles to their first World Series championship. When you think he couldn’t accomplish any more milestones in his first year in Baltimore, Robinson hit two round trippers to earn the award of World Series MVP.
During September of the 1971 season, Robinson hit his 500th home run in an Orioles uniform. Robinson would finish his 21-year career with 586 homers, which currently ranks 10th all-time behind Albert Pujols.
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Following his extraordinary 1966 season, Robinson would go on to hit at least 25 home runs in four of his last five seasons with the Orioles to finish ninth on the Orioles’ all-time home run list.