HRs by position

First, a trivia question. Who holds the record for most HRs in a season by a second baseman (at least 50% of games at 2nd)? Answer will follow later.

I was thinking about AROD's season and how many home runs he's on pace for. Then I realized he already has the most single season HRs by a shortstop (57). It turns out the record for most HRs by a third baseman is 49 by Killebrew. He'll very likely pass that and own the record for 2 positions. Obviously I realize most players don't switch positions in their prime, but its interesting anyway. Maybe he wants to learn to play catcher for next year.

So the remaining positions, since I know you're curious. I'll list these in order of how easy they were for me to figure out:

Left - Bonds (73)
First - McGwire (70)
Right - Sosa (66)
Center - Griffey (56)
DH - Ortiz (54)
Catcher - Bench (45)

Pitcher I would have thought to be Ruth, but the most he hit as a full time pitcher was 4. He hit 11 in 1918 and 29 in 1919, but was mainly an outfielder at that point. The correct answer is Wes Ferrell with 9.

For 2nd base, my thought was Hornsby, who maxed out at 42. But the most ever was Davey Johnson with 43. I was quite surprised at this, especially since his second best season was only 18. The most games anyone has played at 2nd with more than 43 HRs was Hank Aaron who hit 44 HRs in 1966 while playing a grand total of 2 games at second. Nobody else on the list is at all a surprise or a fluke season except this one. Very strange.