HOUSTON -- Cal Raleigh broke Ken Griffey Jr.'s single-season franchise record for home runs with his 57th on Saturday night as the Seattle Mariners catcher moves within range of 60 -- a milestone few players have reached.
Griffey hit 56 homers during the 1997 season, and again in 1998, part of a rsum that earned him a near-unanimous election into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2016. Because of his historical stature and the general difficulty for hitters to generate home runs in the Mariners' home park, it was uncertain whether anyone would approach Griffey Jr.'s record.
Griffey's mark is the third Raleigh has broken in his year-long destruction of pitchers; he's also the all-time single-season home run leader for catchers and switch-hitters. If he reaches 60 homer, Raleigh would be just the seventh player to reach the milestone in MLB history.
Batting in the top of the third inning, Raleigh fell behind in the count no balls and two strikes against Astros left-hander Framber Valdez. Rather than spin a pitch out of the zone, Valdez tried to sneak a fastball over the outside corner. Raleigh, batting right-handed, leaned across the plate and mashed a high drive to right-center field, the ball easily clearing the Astros' bullpen.
Part of the Raleigh's dominance this season has been his ability to drive pitches on the outer third of the plate for home runs -- this was his 18th of the season, second-most in baseball.
As always, Raleigh jogged steadily around the bases, betraying little emotion, and after hugging Eugenio Suarez and wading into joyful teammates in the dugout, he smiled slightly as he was handed the team's trident.
Babe Ruth in 1927 was the first player to reach 60 home runs, a record that stood for 34 years, when Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle both threatened the mark in 1961; on the last day of the regular season Maris broke Ruth's record -- although a special designation was attached to Maris's mark, which occurred in a 162-game schedule. Ruth had played a 154-game schedule in 1927.
Then, in 1998, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa vied for Maris's record in a chase that captured the imagination of baseball fans. Barry Bonds set a new record with 73 in 2001, and Aaron Judge broke Maris's AL record in 2022 while hitting 62 homers.
Now Raleigh is in pursuit of 60 homers -- and, with seven games remaining on the Mariners' schedule, perhaps even Judge's record -- at a time when the switch-hitting catcher is competing against Judge for the AL MVP Award.
