500 career home runs is one of baseball’s magical milestones, with only 28 players in league history having reached that mark as of the end of the 2021 MLB season; aside from those with issues of steroid usage during their careers (e.g. Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, etc.), it is also generally viewed as an automatic ticket to the Hall of Fame. Among this illustrious group, two of the first 10 players to achieve the milestone were Ernie Banks and Eddie Mathews – both longtime NL stars and peers in the 1950s and 1960s, each played a non-traditional power position (shortstop and third base, respectively) and finished his career with exactly 512 home runs, which makes for an interesting comparison:
Who was better – Ernie Banks or Eddie Mathews?
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