Seventeen of the 28 players in major-league history who have hit 500 or more home runs also are among the 133 who have homered in five or more games in a row.
Does that guarantee greatness for the Cubs’ Christopher Morel, who tied a team record with homers in the five games from May 17 to May 23?
Heck, no. The five-in-a-row club also includes George Alusik, who totaled only 23 homers in five seasons and 738 plate appearances despite his five-game streak for the 1962 Athletics. Ex-Pirates, Giants and Astros infielder Jose Castillo finished with 39 homers, and former Orioles, Diamondbacks and Blue Jays catcher Caleb Joseph hit 32.
Still, the overall trend has been that homer streaks of at least five games have gone hand-in-hand with staying power.
The major-league-record homer streak is eight games, set by the Pirates’ Dale Long (132 career homers) in 1956, then tied by the Yankees’ Don Mattingly (222) in 1987 and the Mariners’ Ken Griffey Jr. (630) in 1993. Willie Mays (660 homers) is the all-time leader with five streaks of five or more games, including six-gamers for the Giants in 1955 and 1965.
Twenty-six players with streaks of at least five games remain active. Among the 103 whose careers are over, 77 retired with at least 200 homers, with 48 at 300 or more and 25 at 400 or more.
Morel’s fellow Cubs record-holders had long-term success. Sammy Sosa finished with 609 homers, Ryne Sandberg with 282 and Hack Wilson with 244.
The White Sox’ record is five by Frank Thomas (521 career homers), Paul Konerko (439), Carlos Lee (358), Greg Luzinski (307), A.J. Pierzynski (188) and Ron Kittle (176). Thomas did it twice for the Sox, but he had his longest streak of six games for the A’s in 2006.
The numbers look even better among those who had a streak of five or more games before their 24th birthday. Morel turns 24 on June 24, making him one of 10 with a streak of that length at 23 or younger. In addition to Morel, who has 25 homers in the early stage of his career, Ronald Acuna Jr. (131 career homers), Matt Olson (190) and Joc Pederson (176) remain active.
Griffey and Mays are among the retirees in that group, along with Hall of Famer Mel Ott (511), Jack Clark (340), Brian McCann (282) and Eddie Miller (97). Miller is the weakest link, but he had a 14-season big-league career in 1936-50. His five-game streak came in a 14-homer season for the Braves in 1940. He didn’t hit as many again until slugging 19 for the Reds in 1947.
Overall, there have been 158 streaks of five or more, including three of eight games, six of seven and 24 of six. Sixteen players have had two or more such streaks.
It’s always risky business to project careers off samples as small as a five-game streak. Still, most players with enough power for a streak such as Morel’s have had staying power. And at Morel’s age, time is on his side.
