List of top Nippon Professional Baseball home run hitters

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This is a list of the top 40 Nippon Professional Baseball home run hitters. In the sport of baseball, a home run is a hit in which the batter scores by circling all the bases and reaching home plate in one play, without the benefit of a fielding error. This can be accomplished either by hitting the ball out of play while it is still in fair territory (a conventional home run), or by an inside-the-park home run. Sadaharu Oh holds the Nippon Professional Baseball home run record (as well as the world lifetime home run record) [1] with 868. He passed Hank Aaron (who is currently second on the Major League Baseball career home run list) with 755, on September 3, 1977. [2] The only other NPB player to have hit 600 or even more home runs is Katsuya Nomura with 657. Slugger Noboru Aota retired in 1959 as the Japanese professional baseball career leader with 265 career homers.[ citation needed ] He was surpassed in 1963 by Kazuhiro Yamauchi, the first Japanese professional baseball player to hit 300 home runs. [3] (Yamauchi finished his career with 396 home runs.) Sadaharu Oh assumed the top spot in 1968,[ citation needed ] later becoming the first NPB hitter to surpass 600 home runs during the 1974 season. Listed are all Nippon Professional Baseball players with 300 or more home runs hit during official regular season (i.e., excluding playoffs or exhibition games). Players in bold face are active as of the 2024 Nippon Professional Baseball season (including free agents).

Contents

List

*denotes elected to Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.
Bolddenotes active player. [note 1]

Stats updated as of 2023 season.

RankPlayer (2024 HRs)HRYears
1 Sadaharu Oh *8681959–1980
2 Katsuya Nomura *6571954–1980
3 Hiromitsu Kadota *5671970–1992
4 Koji Yamamoto *5361969–1986
5 Kazuhiro Kiyohara 5251985–2008
6 Hiromitsu Ochiai *5101979–1998
7 Isao Harimoto *5041959–1981
7 Sachio Kinugasa *5041965–1987
9 Katsuo Osugi *4861965–1983
10 Tomoaki Kanemoto *4761992–2012
11 Kōichi Tabuchi 4741969–1984
12 Takeya Nakamura 4712003–present
13 Masahiro Doi 4651962–1981
14 Tuffy Rhodes 4641996–2005, 2007–2009
15 Shigeo Nagashima *4441958–1974
16 Koji Akiyama *4371981, 1984–2002
17 Hiroki Kokubo 4131994–2012
18 Shinnosuke Abe 4062001–2019
19 Norihiro Nakamura 4041992–2014
20 Takeshi Yamasaki 4031989–2013
21 Kazuhiro Yamauchi *3961952–1970
22 Tatsunori Hara 3821981–1995
22 Yasunori Oshima 3821971–1994
24 Alex Ramírez *3802001–2013
25 Michihiro Ogasawara 3781997–2015
26 Shinichi Eto *3671959–1976
27 Akira Eto 3641990–2009
28 Shuichi Murata 3602003–2017
29 Alex Cabrera 3572001–2012
30 Nobuhiko Matsunaka 3521997–2015
31 Masayuki Kakefu 3491974–1988
32 Michiyo Arito 3481969–1986
33 Hideji Katō 3471969–1987
34 Tokuji Nagaike 3381966–1979
34 Masaru Uno 3381977–1994
36 Hideki Matsui *3321993–2002
37 Makoto Matsubara 3311962–1981
38 Yoshinobu Takahashi 3211998–2015
39 Kazuhiro Wada 3191997–2015
39 Takahiro Arai 3191999–2018
41 Katsumi Hirosawa 3061985–2003
42 Takahiro Ikeyama 3041984–2002
43 Sho Nakata 3032009–present
44 Nobuhiro Matsuda 3012006–2023
44 Wladimir Balentien 3012011–2021

Notes

  1. A player is considered inactive if he has announced his retirement or not played for a full season.

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References

  1. Spatz, Lyle. Historical Dictionary of Baseball (Scarecrow Press, 2012), p. 169.
  2. Whiting, Robert. "The Emperor of Swat," New York Times (AUG. 9, 2007).
  3. "Yamauchi, NPB's 1st 300-HR man, dies at 76," Yomiuri Shimbun (Feb. 6, 2009).

See also