baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

, a

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

(HR) is typically a fair

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

that passes over an outfield fence or into the stands at a distance from home plate of 250 feet or more, which entitles the batter to legally touch all bases and score without liability.Official Baseball Rule, 6.09 (d), page 61Official Baseball Rule, 7.05 (a), page 66 Atypically, a batter who hits a fair ball and touches each base in succession from 1st to home, without an error being charged to a defensive player, is credited with an

inside-the-park home run In baseball, an inside-the-park home run is a play where a batter hits a home run without hitting the ball out of the field of play. It is also known as an "inside-the-parker", "in-the-park home run", or "in-the-park homer". Discussion To score ...

. If, during a play, defensive or fan interference is called, and the awarded bases allow the batter to cross home plate, the batter is credited with a home run. Wes Ferrell holds the all-time

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

record for home runs hit while playing the position of

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or dr ...

. He hit 37 as a pitcher.

Baseball Hall of Famers The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-re ...

Bob Lemon Robert Granville Lemon (September 22, 1920 – January 11, 2000) was an American right-handed pitcher and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). Lemon was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976. Lemon was raised in Californi ...

and

Warren Spahn Warren Edward Spahn (April 23, 1921 – November 24, 2003) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). A left-handed pitcher, Spahn played in 1942 and then from 1946 until 1965, most notabl ...

are tied for second with 35 career home runs apiece. Red Ruffing, Earl Wilson, and

Don Drysdale Donald Scott Drysdale (July 23, 1936 – July 3, 1993) was an American professional baseball player and television sports commentator. A right-handed pitcher for the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers for his entire career in Major League Baseball, D ...

are the only other pitchers to hit at least 25 home runs.

Jack Stivetts John Elmer Stivetts (March 31, 1868 – April 18, 1930) was a professional baseball pitcher who played 11 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanning from 1889 to 1899. He played in the American Association ...

hit a total of 35 home runs in his playing career, 21 as a pitcher. Ferrell and Ruffing also rank among the top pitchers in batting average, hitting .280 and .269, respectively. As of the 2021 season,

Madison Bumgarner Madison Kyle Bumgarner (born August 1, 1989), commonly known by his nickname, "MadBum", is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball (MLB). Previously, he pitched for the San Francisco Giants ...

, with 19 home runs, holds the lead among all active pitchers. Bumgarner also has hit the second most home runs by a pitcher since the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league b ...

adopted the

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. The position is authorized by Major League Baseball Rule 5.11. It was adopted by the American League in 1973 and later by t ...

rule in 1973 (behind

Carlos Zambrano Carlos Alberto Zambrano Matos (born June 1, 1981), nicknamed "Big Z" or "El Toro", is a Venezuelan former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2001 to 2012 for the Chicago Cubs and Miami Marlins. Zambrano ...

). Bumgarner has played his most of his career thus far for the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yo ...

of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

, and is currently playing for the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The ...

. Starting with the 2022 season, the National League also adopted the designated hitter rule, so most pitchers will no longer bat, excepting two-way players, such as

Shohei Ohtani , nicknamed "Shotime", is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher, designated hitter and outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional ...

. Ferrell, who had a career slash line of .280/.351/.446, had his best offensive year in 1931, when he set the single-season record for home runs by a pitcher with nine. The record had previously been held by Stivetts, who had hit seven in 1890. Since 1931, six different pitchers have hit seven home runs in a season: Ferrell, Lemon,

Don Newcombe Donald Newcombe (June 14, 1926 – February 19, 2019), nicknamed "Newk", was an American professional baseball pitcher in Negro league and Major League Baseball who played for the Newark Eagles (1944–45), Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers (1949–1 ...

(twice), Wilson, and

Mike Hampton Michael William Hampton, Jr. (born September 9, 1972) is an American former professional baseball player. Hampton played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a pitcher from 1993 through 2010. He pitched for the Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros, New ...

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...

started his major league career as a pitcher before moving to the outfield. Only 14 of his 714 career home runs were hit as a pitcher, however. The first pitcher to officially hit a home run was Jack Manning, who accomplished the feat on August 3, 1876. The most home runs by a pitcher in a single game is three, achieved by Jim Tobin on May 13, 1942.