Until expansion came along in 1961, Major League Baseball was usually played in 16 ballparks each season, at most. And with no Interleague Play, a team would only have games in eight of those venues in a year.
So when Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs in 1927, he went deep in all eight ballparks in which he set foot during that season ¨C playing at least 11 games in each American League stadium and hitting at least three homers in each one, in fact. In 1961, when Roger Maris broke Ruth¡¯s record, he homered in all 10 AL ballparks he visited.
But as the leagues expanded, so too did the number of stadiums in which players appeared. Interleague games and regular-season trips to Mexico and overseas to Asia, Oceania and Europe only added to the locations. Now with the balanced schedules established in 2023 ensuring that every team faces each of the other 29 in a season, they¡¯re playing in 22 or 23 different venues each year ¨C and so the record for most ballparks in which a player homers in a season has grown beyond what Ruth or Maris could have accomplished.
In 1998, Sammy Sosa established the current record by homering in 18 different stadiums, a number that has been matched three times, with another 11 players falling one short. Here is a look at every player to homer in at least 17 different ballparks in a season.
18 ballparks
Sammy Sosa, Cubs, 1998 (66 total home runs)
Neck-and-neck with Mark McGwire (more on him later) during their epic race to break Maris¡¯ single-season record, Sosa went deep in all but one of the 19 ballparks in which he played in ¡¯98. Of his 31 dingers hit on the road, four of them soared out of Milwaukee¡¯s County Stadium. The one ballpark in which Sosa played that wasn¡¯t the site of his signature hop out of the batter¡¯s box? Kansas City¡¯s Kauffman Stadium, where he went 4-for-13 with a double in three games.
Mike Piazza, Mets, 2000 (38 HR)
In matching Sosa¡¯s record from two years earlier, the future Hall of Famer added a wrinkle to the feat: Piazza homered in three different countries. It began on Opening Day, when he homered against the Cubs at Tokyo Dome. Later that season, he went deep twice in Canada ¨C once each in Montreal and Toronto.
Luis Robert Jr., White Sox, 2023 (38 HR)
Chicago¡¯s center fielder has always had a lot of promise ¨C a No. 3 ranking in MLB Pipeline¡¯s Top 100 Prospects list in 2020, a second-place AL Rookie of the Year finish that season ¨C but has had trouble staying healthy. Well, in a career-high 145 games in 2023, Robert nearly tripled his best home run showing (his previous high was 13 in ¡¯21). Credit Tigers pitching for keeping him from setting a new record: In six games at Comerica Park, Robert was 3-for-23 with a double and no home runs. He homered in the five other road ballparks in which he played at least four games that season.
Aaron Judge, Yankees, 2024 (58 HR)
Seeing Judge on this list isn¡¯t a surprise, but the season might be. It¡¯s not his AL-record 62-homer season of 2022 (he hit those dingers in ¡°just¡± 16 different ballparks) but his second AL MVP campaign. A look at the missed chances shows three interesting locations where he went homerless: There¡¯s Texas¡¯ Globe Life Field, where he hit No. 62 two years earlier; Houston¡¯s Daikin Park, which was the fifth-easiest ballpark to homer in that season; and Journey Bank Ballpark in Williamsport, Pa., a Minor League venue that hosts the annual Little League Classic.
17 ballparks
Mark McGwire, A¡¯s/Cardinals, 1997 (58 HR)
In the year he was traded from the A¡¯s to the Cardinals, McGwire played in 25 different stadiums. He hit 17 of his 58 home runs at the Oakland Coliseum in 47 games before the trade, 13 at St. Louis¡¯ Busch Stadium in 25 games after the July 31 deal, and ¨C to lead among his road stadiums ¨C four at Colorado¡¯s Coors Field in four games there. A year later, when he broke Maris¡¯ record with 70 big flies? Those came in just 15 of the 18 ballparks in which he played.
Jeff Bagwell, Astros, 1999 (42 HR)
The future Hall of Fame first baseman hit just 12 home runs in 82 games at the Astrodome in ¡¯99, matching that total with three homers each over 17 games at four different road venues: Rate Field in Chicago, Dodger Stadium in L.A., ProPlayer Stadium in Miami and Wrigley Field in Chicago.
Tony Batista, Diamondbacks/Blue Jays, 1999 (31 HR)
Like McGwire in ¡¯97 Batista benefitted from a midseason trade that enabled him to show off his wide-open batting stance in 25 different ballparks in ¡¯99. He hit only five with Arizona ¨C and only one at home ¨C before the trade on June 12, then added 26 with Toronto (nine of those at home).
Barry Bonds, Giants, 2001 (73 HR)
In setting a new single-season home run mark, Bonds hit 37 homers in San Francisco ¨C which on its own would¡¯ve tied for 18th in MLB that year. Away from home, he feasted in Atlanta (six homers in three games), Arizona (five in 10 games) and San Diego (five in seven games). The only fences he couldn¡¯t clear in ¡¯01? The Ballpark at Arlington and the Oakland Coliseum ¨C where he went a combined 2-for-26 with 11 walks in six games.
Albert Pujols, Cardinals, 2006, (49 HR)
In Cardinals history, only McGwire¡¯s 70 home runs in ¡¯98 and 65 in ¡¯99 top Pujols¡¯ 49 in 2006. ¡°The Machine¡± would¡¯ve hit 50 if he¡¯d been able to knock one out of Cincinnati¡¯s Great American Ball Park in the five games he played there or in his one game at Chicago¡¯s Rate Field.
Yoenis Céspedes, Tigers/Mets, 2015 (35 HR)
A Trade Deadline deal that sent him from Detroit to New York allowed C¨¦spedes to step to the plate in 21 ballparks. He hit five at home for each squad ¨C though he played nearly twice as many games in Detroit (52) as he did in New York (27).
Ozzie Albies, Braves, 2023 (33 HR)
In the first season of truly balanced schedules, Albies played in 22 ballparks and hit 20 of his home runs on the road. Among the places where he didn¡¯t homer were Philadelphia¡¯s Citizens Bank Park (the NL East venue in which he¡¯s homered the least entering 2025) and Colorado¡¯s Coors Field (five singles in 16 plate appearances).
Pete Alonso, Mets, 2023 (46 HR)
The Polar Bear hit 24 homers on the road, including three in four games at St. Louis¡¯ Busch Stadium. Of the five he missed out on (Baltimore, Boston, Detroit, Dodger Stadium and San Diego), the Tigers¡¯ Comerica Park is the only one in which he¡¯s homerless in his career. The three games in ¡¯23 are the only ones he¡¯s played there ¨C until the Mets visit in September 2025.
Kyle Schwarber, Phillies, 2023 (47 HR)
Twenty-four of these Schwar-bombs came on the road ¨C though, like Judge in 2024, none were hit during the Little League Classic in Williamsport. Schwarber¡¯s favorite road venue was, briefly, once one of his home ballparks: Nationals Park in Washington, where he broke into a trot four times in five games this season.
Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers, 2024 (54 HR)
Opening in Seoul¡¯s Gocheok Sky Dome allowed Ohtani to play in 24 stadiums in ¡¯24, though he didn¡¯t go deep there. He also missed out in four tries each at San Diego¡¯s Petco Park and Atlanta¡¯s Truist Park ¨C and two games at his former home, Angel Stadium. His favorite road venue was Miami¡¯s loanDepot Park, where he homered four times in three games ¨C including three blasts in his incredible 6-for-6, 50/50 Club-creating master class on Sept. 20, 2024.
Brent Rooker, A¡¯s, 2024 (39 HR)
Hitting nine more homers on the road (24 to 15) allowed Rooker to spread them around different ballparks, including three each at Angel Stadium and Citizens Bank Park. Despite slugging .546 in three games at Baltimore and .556 in three games at Boston, he didn¡¯t clear the fence at either place.