Home Runs : 1981 National League Top 25

Finding the American or National League leader in virtually every hitting & pitching statistic is easy-to-do. Finding the top 25 players during any given season is far more challenging. Baseball Almanac has taken away that difficult problem and is pleased to present the data you requested:

"The key for this year was staying healthy, playing 154 games (his biggest goal was to play 162 games). When I'm healthy, I'm can put up the best numbers I can." - Juan Gonzalez (1999)
 

1981 Home Runs Leaders

Top 25 in the National League

Mike Schmidt 31 Philadelphia Phillies 1
Andre Dawson 24 Montreal Expos 2
George Foster 22 Cincinnati Reds 3
Dave Kingman 22 New York Mets  
George Hendrick 18 St. Louis Cardinals 5
Jack Clark 17 San Francisco Giants 6
Gary Carter 16 Montreal Expos 7
Bob Horner 15 Atlanta Braves 8
Jason Thompson 15 Pittsburgh Pirates  
Ron Cey 13 Los Angeles Dodgers 10
Jose Cruz 13 Houston Astros  
Dale Murphy 13 Atlanta Braves  
Darrell Evans 12 San Francisco Giants 13
Pedro Guerrero 12 Los Angeles Dodgers  
Rick Monday 11 Los Angeles Dodgers 15
Bill Buckner 10 Chicago Cubs 16
Leon Durham 10 Chicago Cubs  
Steve Garvey 10 Los Angeles Dodgers  
Dusty Baker 9 Los Angeles Dodgers 19
Gary Matthews 9 Philadelphia Phillies  
Dave Parker 9 Pittsburgh Pirates  
Johnny Bench 8 Cincinnati Reds 22
Chris Chambliss 8 Atlanta Braves  
Keith Hernandez 8 St. Louis Cardinals  
Joe Lefebvre 8 San Diego Padres  



The first player from the Angels franchise (they were the California Angels at the time) to wear the number twenty-five was Bob Perry.

Jose Cruz of the Houston Astros had his number twenty-five retired on October 3, 1992, and became the first Major League player with that particular retired number.

Jim Thome wore number twenty-five since he first came up with the Cleveland Indians making him the franchise record holder for that particular number (Mike Garcia is second).