40-40 club

The 40-40 club is a term coined by sportswriters to distinguish Major League Baseball players who accumulate a total of both 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in a single season.

Related Topics:
Major League Baseball - Home run - Stolen base

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Becoming a member of the 40-40 club is one of the most elusive achievements in modern American sports, as players who possess either the power to hit 40 home runs or the speed to steal 40 bases in a season are a rarity in and of themselves. This remains true even as statistical trends change in baseball; stolen base totals in the 1980s were unusually high, but very few players reached 40 home runs, and home run totals were extremely high in the late 1990s, but stolen bases became increasingly rare as the steal became a much more sparingly used tactic.

Related Topics:
American - Baseball - 1980s - 1990s

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As such, only three players in history can claim membership in the 40-40 club. They are:

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• Jose Canseco, 42 home runs and 40 stolen bases in 1988
• Barry Bonds, 42 home runs and 40 stolen bases in 1996
• Alex Rodriguez, 42 home runs and 46 stolen bases in 1998

Bonds also had a near-miss 40-40 season in 1997, hitting 40 home runs and stealing 37 bases. His father Bobby Bonds was one home run away from being the founding member of the club in 1973 with 39 home runs and 43 stolen bases. More recently, in 2002 the 40-40 club nearly gained two new members. That year, Vladimir Guerrero and Alfonso Soriano were each just one home run short, with 39 home runs each and 40 and 41 stolen bases respectively. In 2004, Carlos Beltran was two Homeruns shy of the club as he hit 38 Homeruns and collected 43 steals.

Related Topics:
1997 - Bobby Bonds - 1973 - 2002 - Vladimir Guerrero - Alfonso Soriano - 2004 - Carlos Beltran

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Members of the 40-40 club are already members of the 30-30 club.

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Rapper Jay-Z named his sports bar in Manhattan after this exclusive club.

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