by David Fleitz

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Ron Cey led the world champion 1981 Dodgers in home runs with 13.

In the past few seasons, many different players have managed to hit 50 or more home runs in a season.

That wasn't the case when I was growing up. From 1966 to 1989, only one man managed to hit 50 in a season. That was George Foster, with 52 for the Reds in 1977. Nowadays, it happens all the time. Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire have done so four times each, while Ken Griffey Jr. has done it twice. There have been others, like Greg Vaughn, Brady Anderson, Albert Belle, Alex Rodriguez, and some whose names I'm forgetting right now. A quick look at the stats shows that there have been 34 50-homer seasons in the 126-year history of major league baseball; 17 of those 34 seasons have come in the last 12 years.

I noticed one thing about all these 50-homer men, however. Ever since Roger Maris hit 61 and Mickey Mantle 54 for the Yankees in 1961, no team (until this season) has won the World Series with a 50-homer hitter in the lineup.

In fact, since Mike Schmidt hit 48 for the Phillies in 1980, no team (until this season) has won the Series with a 40-homer man in the lineup.

None of these guys - McGwire, Sosa, Griffey, Belle, or any others - has managed to lead his team to the World Series title by hitting 50-plus home runs. In fact, from 1962 to 2000 only two 50-homer men (Greg Vaughn of the Padres in 1998 and Albert Belle of the Indians in 1995) have played in the Series, though both their teams lost.

Here is the list of home run leaders for each Series-winning team from 1981 to 2001:

1981 Dodgers        Ron Cey, 13 (strike-shortened season) 
1982 Cardinals      George Hendrick, 19
1983 Orioles        Eddie Murray, 33
1984 Tigers         Lance Parrish, 33
1985 Royals         Steve Balboni, 36
1986 Mets           Darryl Strawberry, 27
1987 Twins          Kent Hrbek, 34
1988 Dodgers        Kirk Gibson, 25
1989 A's            Mark McGwire, 33
1990 Reds           Chris Sabo, 25
1991 Twins          Chili Davis, 29
1992 Blue Jays      Joe Carter, 34
1993 Blue Jays      Joe Carter, 33
1994 none
1995 Braves         Fred McGriff, 27
1996 Yankees        Bernie Williams, 29
1997 Marlins        Moises Alou, 23
1998 Yankees        Tino Martinez, 28
1999 Yankees        Tino Martinez, 28
2000 Yankees        Bernie Wiliams, 30*
2001 Diamondbacks   Luis Gonzalez, 57

As you can see, from 1981 to 2000, no team with a 40-homer man won the World Series. Luis Gonzalez of Arizona, with 57 homers, finally broke the string in 2001.

How can this be? You'd think that a guy who hits a lot of home runs will automatically win lots of games for his team, right?

Well, it doesn't always turn out that way.

Look at Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. McGwire set a new record with 70 homers in 1998, but his Cardinals finished only four games above the .500 mark, 19 games out of first place. Sosa hit 66 for the Cubs, who made the playoffs as a wild-card team, but who still finished 12 games behind Houston in the Central Division.

In 1999, both men hit a lot of homers, and both their teams failed to make the playoffs. The Cardinals finished 21 games back despite McGwire's 65 homers, and the Cubs, with Sosa belting 63, wound up the season in last place, 30 games out.

In 2001, Barry Bonds set a new mark with 73 round-trippers, but his Giants ended the season two games behind the Diamondbacks in their division and three games behind in the wild-card race.

Gonzalez led the D-backs to the title this year, but he's not your normal slugger. He only struck out 83 times (McGwire struck out 155 times and Sosa 171 times in 1998) and he has good bat control. He's not the all-or-nothing wild swinger like some of the other 50-homer men have been.

Anyway, I think it's clear that the home run, entertaining though it may be, is highly overrated. The home run hitter drives in a lot of runs, but he usually strikes out a lot and hits into a lot of double plays. Also, a home run hitter's salary may be so high that his team can't afford to keep some of its other good players. Sluggers put fans into the seats, but pitching - especially starting pitching - and defense win championships.