Jose Bautista Joins Other Unlikely 50 Home Run Hitters

50 home runs is a huge plateau for a player to cross. That is, it was until the steroid era made it common place, an easily achievable statistic that assaulted the record books while also ballooning ballpark attendance figures.

I remember in 1990 when Cecil Fielder hit 51 home runs in 1990, it was a tremendous deal because it was the first time a player had done it since George Foster launched 52 for Cincinnati in 1977, with Foster himself being the first to do it since Willie Mays hit 52 for San Francisco in 1965. Point being, it was a once in a generation deal, a feat to be marveled at and enjoyed.

Unfortunately, I cannot say that I am the least bit excited for Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays, who crossed the threshold when he hit his 50^th home run of the season earlier today. Maybe it is just the skeptic in me, or maybe it has just been brow beaten into us as a baseball-loving society to not look a gift horse in the mouth any longer. Here is a guy that has hit a total of 59 home runs prior to this season, in his career! Sure this guy may be clean and something may have just clicked at the age of 29 that allowed him to finally step it up and become a star power-hitter. Then again, maybe we've all just drunk the Brady Anderson kool-aid before and don't really believe in the feel-good story any longer.

That said Bautista has a chance to step it up next year, after some team rewards him with a large multi-year contract, to prove that he is clean. Obviously, he has the benefit of the doubt right now, as Major League Baseball has a testing policy in place and they are working toward testing for HGH in another season or two.

However, if Bautista cannot replicate or approximate his 2010 performance next season, he'll likely join the ranks of these other unlikely 50 Home-Run Club members that had a monster season and then faded away to obscurity.

Brady Anderson - Baltimore Orioles

1996 - 50 Home Runs

1997 - 18 Home Runs

The aforementioned Anderson is where every discussion of the impurity of the 50 Home Run Club starts. Anderson himself has never admitted to or tested positive for steroids, but he also retired prior to the inception of the testing program. Anderson did compile 210 career home runs, mostly from the lead-off spot, so he wasn't without power, but considering he never hit more than 24 in any other season and too three seasons after 1996 to hit his next 50, he will always be looked at with a raised eyebrow and be the gold-standard of question marks.

Luis Gonzalez - Arizona Diamondbacks

2001 - 57 Home Runs

2002 - 28 Home Runs

It is hard to put Gonzalez on this list, as he was one of the most liked players in the game, was always a decent power threat, and was doubles and RBI machine. His magical 2001 season was lost in the limelight of the Sammy Sosa/Barry Bonds home run chase that saw Sosa's 64 home runs finish second to Bonds's new record 73 home runs. Alex Rodriguez also hit 50 in 2001, so the mark wasn't necessarily unachievable. Sosa and Bonds have been nonstop targets of steroids theorists, while Rodriguez himself has admitted to using performance enhancing drugs. Gonzalez meanwhile carved himself a nice career, hitting a total of 354 home runs, but crossed the 30 home run threshold only one other time in his career and never after 2001.

Andruw Jones - Atlanta Braves

2005 - 51 Home Runs

2006 - 41 Home Runs

Andruw Jones was perhaps one of the most hyped center fielders in the game in 2005 when he launched 51 home runs at the age of 28. His yearly totals had been in the high 20's to the mid-30's ever since he settled in as the Braves' everyday center fielder. Jones doesn't make this list because of how unlikely it was to have hit 50 home runs, nor because of his performance the next season. Instead, Jones makes this list because of his precipitous fall in the seasons afterwards. Jones left Atlanta after the 2007 season, and has been in a freefall ever since. In his last three seasons combined, Jones has hit a total of 39 home runs, a steep decline for a player that has hit a total of 407 for his career. Certainly, it could be said that pitchers finally started exploiting his weakness with breaking balls, but it should also be noted that Jones has suffered injury and conditioning setbacks that make him a shadow of the player he once was. That's quite unfortunate for a player that should still be looking at another five to six seasons of baseball left in his career.

Sources:

50 Home Run Club, Wikipedia.com

Jose Bautista Stats, Baseball-Reference.com

Brady Anderson Stats, Baseball-Reference.com

Luis Gonzales Stats, Baseball-Reference.com

Andruw Jones Stats, Baseball-Reference.com