Relive Babe Ruth's, Hank Aaron's and Barry Bonds' rise up the all-time HR leaderboard with this graphic
Pull up the all-time home run leaderboard and you'll likely see a number of familiar names at the top. Barry Bonds. Hank Aaron. Babe Ruth. Willie Mays. Sammy Sosa.
What that leaderboard might not show you, however, is who the greatest sluggers were before Bonds. Or before Aaron. Or before Ruth. Sam Thompson was considered a great power hitter before Ruth and others came along -- making him look like Juan Pierre and relegating him to the footnotes of history.
This graphic brings the historical home run chase to life, all in less than a minute.
This is pretty awesome... Top 10 all time @mlb home run leaders since 1900 by year. pic.twitter.com/whDTWIdjGc
— Daren Willman (@darenw) March 18, 2019
Aside from Ruth's, Aaron's and Bonds' impressive and rapid ascensions to the top of the all-time home run leaderboard, perhaps the most striking visual is the tumult of the early 2000's. In rapid time, you can see the likes of Jim Thome, Ken Griffey Jr. and Albert Pujols climb the list to their current perch as some of the greatest power -- and overall -- hitters in recent memory.
At the very least, Thompson and Roger Connor can once again enjoy their place atop the all-time home run list, at least until Ruth comes around about 10 seconds in.
Eric Chesterton is a writer for MLB.com. He is an appreciator of the stolen base, the bunt against the shift and nearly every unconventional uniform design. He eagerly awaits Jamie Moyer's inevitable comeback.
