How Rare Was Ben Revere's Home Run Drought?
Last night, Phillies center fielder Ben Revere shocked the world.
After going his first 1,565 plate appearances without a home run, Revere finally hit one out in the Phils' 6-2 loss to the Rockies. His "blast" landed in the first row of the right field seats at Citizens Bank Park off lefty-specialist Boone Logan, who will now be the answer to a marvelous trivia question heard in Philadelphia pubs and taverns for decades to come.
As noted by ESPN's Home Run Tracker, Revere's liner traveled 357 feet, long enough to be a home run in only six Major League ballparks.
But hey, it counts. And now Revere is off the hook, having fallen 905 plate appearances short of the all-time record for most plate appearances in a career without a homer (2,470), set by the immortal Jack McCarthy, a 155-pound left fielder who played for five teams from 1893-1907.
What made Revere's homer drought so much fun was taking a look at all the pitchers who had a dinger in their book before Ben broke his drought.
Since Revere entered the league in 2010, 60 pitchers hit a home run before he did, and 18 pitchers had at least two:
| Player | HR | G | PA | AB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yovani Gallardo | 8 | 143 | 307 | 270 |
| 2 | Travis Wood | 7 | 121 | 223 | 202 |
| 3 | Carlos Zambrano | 4 | 102 | 141 | 130 |
| 4 | Madison Bumgarner | 3 | 130 | 289 | 243 |
| 5 | Gio Gonzalez | 3 | 138 | 165 | 141 |
| 6 | Mike Leake | 3 | 144 | 289 | 249 |
| 7 | Mat Latos | 3 | 127 | 284 | 246 |
| 8 | Bronson Arroyo | 2 | 144 | 312 | 268 |
| 9 | Matt Cain | 2 | 143 | 321 | 274 |
| 10 | Zach Duke | 2 | 110 | 86 | 72 |
| 11 | Jaime Garcia | 2 | 94 | 201 | 182 |
| 12 | Zack Greinke | 2 | 139 | 200 | 166 |
| 13 | Tim Hudson | 2 | 128 | 304 | 260 |
| 14 | Edwin Jackson | 2 | 140 | 221 | 197 |
| 15 | Cliff Lee | 2 | 140 | 247 | 221 |
| 16 | Jordan Lyles | 2 | 83 | 108 | 94 |
| 17 | Kevin Millwood | 2 | 68 | 33 | 29 |
| 18 | Alex White | 2 | 38 | 47 | 41 |
And, if Revere hits another home run tonight, he'll have just as many as the following players here in 2014: Ryan Zimmerman, Rickie Weeks, Dan Uggla, Carlos Quentin, Jonathan Lucroy, Manny Machado, Howie Kendrick, Paul Konerko, Josh Hamilton, Jacoby Ellsbury, Robinson Cano and Elvis Andrus.
Of course, with Revere off the hook, who's next? Sadly, it's going to take a while for someone to catch up to Revere-like levels of homer-ineptitude.
| Player | G | PA | AB | BA | OPS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brock Holt | 67 | 216 | 188 | 0.271 | 0.654 |
| 2 | Kolten Wong | 60 | 176 | 166 | 0.217 | 0.539 |
| 3 | Leury Garcia | 73 | 162 | 147 | 0.204 | 0.498 |
| 4 | Chase d'Arnaud | 56 | 157 | 149 | 0.208 | 0.507 |
| 5 | Justin Christian | 76 | 155 | 143 | 0.203 | 0.521 |
| 6 | Luis Jimenez | 43 | 139 | 129 | 0.24 | 0.572 |
| 7 | Chris Marrero | 39 | 133 | 125 | 0.232 | 0.528 |
| 8 | Nick Noonan | 62 | 111 | 105 | 0.219 | 0.499 |
| 9 | Jordan Brown | 40 | 109 | 102 | 0.225 | 0.57 |
| 10 | Roger Kieschnick | 42 | 102 | 91 | 0.187 | 0.483 |
As you can see, Boston's Brock Holt is on the clock, but with just 216 plate appearances under his belt and 15 career home runs in six minor league seasons, chances are he'll go yard sooner rather than later. And sadly, most of the players on this list will probably hit a home run pretty soon as well. Most are first or second year players, some with lots and lots of home runs in the minors. And 100-200 plate appearances is a too small a sample size anyway.
So now, much like the '72 Dolphins do every year when the last NFL unbeaten falls, the family of Jack McCarthy will raise their glasses high to Ben Revere. It seems their great-great-great grandfather's legacy will live on for quite a bit longer.
