Baltimore Orioles: Top 5 home run hitters in franchise history

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1. Cal Ripken Jr. — 431 home runs

You don’t appear in 2,632 straight baseball games without hitting some dingers along the way. Ripken led the Orioles in home runs in only a few of his 21 seasons, but his career total of 431 puts him nearly 100 round-trippers ahead of Murray on the franchise’s all-time list.

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The son of an Orioles farmhand and eventual skipper — Cal Sr. managed Cal Jr. during the dismal 1987 season — Ripken was born to play baseball. After being taken with the 48th pick of the 1978 draft, the shortstop spent four seasons tearing up the minors before joining Baltimore for good in 1982. On May 30 of that year, he began his legendary run of consecutive games, appearing in every single one of the Orioles’ contests until September 1998.

But Ripken was a lot more than just steady and durable. He wasted no time establishing himself as one of the best hitters in the game, leading the American League in runs, hits and doubles en route to MVP honors in 1983. Eight years later, he posted career highs with 34 round-trippers and a .566 slugging percentage, winning the award once again.

On September 6, 1995, Ripken broke Lou Gehrig’s hallowed record of 2,130 consecutive games. His celebratory lap around Camden Yards amid a 22-minute ovation from the fans remains one of the most emotional moments in Baltimore Orioles annals.

Ripken never had light-tower power, but his incredible longevity allowed him to hit more home runs than anyone else in franchise history — and for an organization that dates back to 1901, that’s no small feat.

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