The Scariest Hitters In Baseball History 

As a lifelong White Sox fan, Frank Thomas will always be my favorite ball player. When I was about 10 years old, they had an autograph day at Comisky Park and the line for Frank Thomas was halfway around the stadium. I begged my mom to let me stay in line and when I finally got to The Big Hurt I was amazed at how big he was. He took the baseball from me and his hands were so big, it looked like he was holding a golf ball. To a 10 year old me Frank Thomas was a giant!! One of my favorite baseball memories.

I’m so proud I got to watch Pujols live for so many years in STL. He did some amazing things on the field.

It’s so sad that Delgado is forgotten for the most part. Dude was a monster.

Hank Aaron being left off this list should be a crime. Not even an honorable mention? For shame.

I'm sure everyone has a suggestion, but for me, most notably missing is Jim Thome. I think it was 1997 that he was hitting between David Justice and Manny Ramirez. He was ALWAYS up in a big spot and was liable to hit one about 600 feet at any moment. And you had young Manny behind him, cleaning up 160something RBIs, so you had to pitch to Thome. What a nightmare for a pitcher, or an AL east fan.

I don't know if it's possible to overstate just how beautiful a swing Junior had. The 3 times that I got to see him play live (twice at the Kingdome, once at Safeco) were fantastic experiences. One was particularly memorable, although the date escapes me. It was either the 97 or 98 season, and my sister had 2 tickets to see the Yankees play the M's in Seattle. Her BF was sent packing a week before, and I was in town visiting. So we went and watched 8 & 1/2 innings of boring baseball. We were about to leave with the M's down 5-2, but there was a walk with 1 out in the bottom. So I figured "let's wait". Then a single. Then another RBI single to right. Another strike out. Now it's bottom of the 9th, the score is 5-3 Yankees in Seattle, runners on the corners, and like magic... it's Griffey up to bat. The cavalier pageantry was breathtaking. And the once lumbering crowd was now electrified with this story unfolding before us. Could he...? On a 2-2 he TATTOOS that ball into deep right. The sound alone told me it was LONG gone, but to see it hit the upper deck was just magical. A hrown man sitting next to my sister actually wept at that moment. Unabashedly cried his eyes out. My sister and I were swept away with the exhiliration of the moment, as were all the rest of the Seattle faithful. Old Lou was at the side of the dugout to greet the Kid after the celebration at home plate. Even though I was on the 2nd deck on the 1st base line, I swear I saw Pinella shake his head & smile at Griffey. My sister & I hugged that emotional old man before we left. He told us he had not seen anything that beautiful in a ballpark since Yastrzemski in the 1968 Red Sox season. I spent the whole next day at the Queen Anne Seattle Library looking up Carl Yastrzemski, since I was only 20 or 21. It reminded me of my dad, talking about his baseball hero, Sandy Koufax, and my grandfather talking about his childhood watching Connie Mack's Athletics in Philly through a knothole in center field. And all of that came rushing back when I saw Ichiro Suzuki play for the M's less than a decade later. It came to me again when the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, and I started to see pictures of graves with Sox penants on them, and notes reading "you can rest now, Dad... we did it." THAT is baseball.

To me the coolest thing about Frank Thomas is how he always played the game his way. Beyond just his strong stance against steroids, he also refused to be anything other than the type of hitter he knew himself to be. People who only saw his size pushed him to swing more and become more of a three true outcomes hitter, but he never saw the point in swinging at bad pitches. He had that excellent eye for the strike zone, and he was gonna use it. He might've been built like a monster slugger, but he was determined to hit for contact.

Willie McCovey could have easily been included on any list of "Scariest Hitters." Dave Kingman aka "Kong" too!

This was awesome content especially the Big Hurt with Frank Thomas…total UNIT 💪🏼💪🏼

Love that Frank Thomas, aka, the Big Hurt was included on here. Despite being from Kansas City, Missouri, and a life long Royals fan, my favorite baseball player in the league was The Big Hurt. Ya see, since I was born in 1986, I was born the year after they won their first World Series--which would also be their ONLY World Series chmpuonship until finally winning again in 2015 when I was then 29-years-old. Further, they didn't even make the playoffs during practically the same stretch until finally winning the wild card in 2014 and making it to game 7 of the World Series where theyd lose in a heart breaker to San Francisco. And so, during the mid-90s to the early 2000s, the Royals were always quite dismal and rarely even had any decent players to get excited to watch. And so that's where the Big Hurt fit in. My dads work buddy had season tickets he rarely used and would give them to us quite often, and i remember early on, by '93 or '94, Frank would hammer us every time he stepped into Kauffman, hitting prodigious homers, showing unnatural plate discipline, and lining doubles from gap to gap anytime he wasn't easily jogging to first for a walk or jogging around all 4 bases after a round tripper. And so i fell in love with Big Frank and it became a habit to see at least one game every time they came to KC, and each time each seemed like he'd send a ball into the fountains. And hell, for good measure, when I was 11, my, my dad, and my 2 older brothers went on a road trip to Chicago and, needless to say, we had to catch a Sox game at Comiskey. And despite it being a cool night for July with the wind blowing in (as i remember we had to stop at a mall to get jackets to wear to the game since we hadnt packed any), the Big Hurt didnt disappoint and hit a moonshot in the only game i ever saw at Comiskey (or whatever it's called now.)

Bonds PROBABLY had a great case for cooperstown in 99??? He had 445 HR at that point and 460 SB and 3 MVP awards along with 4 other seasons where he finished top 5 in MVP. He wasn’t probably a hall of gamer at that point. He was a guaranteed lock first ballot hall of famer at that point.

Man, Ken griffey Jr swing is so satisfying to watch

When I was younger I worked as a bartender in a hotel. Frank was staying there and sat at my bar one evening. Super nice. I asked him what's the longest hr he ever hit. He said 525 ft and smiled. A guy sitting two seats down from him straight up asked "yeah did you take any of those roids?". I thought Frank would get pissed. Instead he said " Shit I wish I had known it was a thing. I would have made so much more money"😂

Vladimir Guerrero SR doesn't have the monster stats of many of these guys but the guy was so scary at the plate because he "could" or at least had the ability to hit a homerun on a perfect pitcher's pitch, he hit more homeruns on pitches out of the zone then I remember anyone being able to and somehow had a fairly high batting average for someone who virtually swung at EVERYTHING lol...

Cool video! I’d like to see full at-bat breakdowns on why these guys were the best 😅. Big Frank was so patient at the plate you can only see it to believe it 👏

For Babe Ruth's 145 walks, just remember Lou Gehrig was right behind him and they still decided that was the best course of action And he spent 7 years as a pitcher and most of his homers came in his last 13 seasons

Tony Gwynn struck out 434 times over TWENTY YEARS. Good luck pitching to that dude.

I'd love to see another video of this type about scariest pitchers. Just as hitters can be intimidating, so too can certain pitchers. I remember speaking with a former player once at a volunteering event, and he said the scariest pitcher he ever faced was Jim Palmer. Palmer, he said, had a deceptively slow windup, which fooled him into thinking the pitch was coming slowly; the next thing he knew, the umpire was screaming "STRIKE" and the ball was in the catcher's mit without ever showing itself leaving Palmer's hand.

Harmon Killebrew - Never hit for a high batting .Avg but he was without a doubt one of the games most feared hitters from 1959-1972....

Growing up playing little league in the early 90's these players were my heroes. Managed to still hang on to some of their trading cards too. I found out my 89' Topps Ken Griffey Jr. Rated Rookie is worth $50 now. Reminded me also of some bad trades I made with a buddy, where apparently, he got the better end of the deal haha such a great era of baseball and history.

Steroids don’t improve eyesight and skill… 3:48

Love the Pujols comparison, "like if Ichiro had the power of Ken Griffey Jr." My favorite trivia about Pujols is that he came into the league the same year as Ichiro, had the same 10-year prime (2001-2010), had the exact same .331 batting average in that prime, but hit 318 more homers while *striking out less.* Despite his power, Pujols was also the game's best contact hitter of his time.

Joe DiMaggio. Until his last season, he had more home runs than strikeouts. As a right-hander, he was handicapped by old Yankee Stadium. Yet his advanced stats on the road are on par with Ted Williams on the road. As for Ted, prime Mickey Mantle overlapped aging Ted Williams, yet Ted’s advanced stats in his decline are nearly on par with prime Mantle.

Great video, Thanks !!!

I don't mean this as internet hate but a piece of advice would be to change the pitch that you end some of your sentences with. Once you can't help but notice it it becomes a little unsettling and it'd help to vary your cadence a little. Some really awesome batters on that list.

What about Albert Belle? For a 8-year period ... there was no hitter more intimidating.

Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, Aaron Judge and Barry Bonds.

Edgar Martinez had a higher career OPS than Griffey, Cabrera, and Pujols and has an award for hitting named after him.

Yordan Alvarez is also terrifying, he’s the only batter that I feel like is an automatic hit when he’s at the plate.

Dave Parker was terrifying. His size and stance plus him waving the bat around like a toothpick always used to get me.

I could argue that Canseco was a much scarier hitter than McGwre. That swing of his was absolutely terrifying!

Big Hurt is so under valued. He totally commanded the plate and power was scary.

I'm surprised that Big Papi aka David Ortiz wasn't mentioned on this video

Very nice!

Point of order, Pujols played at Maple Woods Community College in the suburbs of Kansas City MISSOURI. He was 2 years ahead of me in high school, but I saw him live several times in district play his junior and senior years with the Fort Osage Indians from Independence, MO who were big rivals of the Liberty, MO Blue Jays I repped in football and debate/forensics from 1998-2000 (Albert graduated in 1998). That senior HS year of his was freaking nutty, he was IBB'd 55 out of 88 plate appearances, in those 33 times he actually got pitches to hit he destroyed 8 Homer's and 7 other extra base hits.

If Babe Ruth had been born 5 years later and spent his entire career as a position player, he could have racked up nearly 1000 HRs.

This seems like more of a list of the greatest pure-hitting power-hitters of all-time. Of the guys that were truly the scariest, I'd have to go with Albert Belle, Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Mo Vaughn, Mike Piazza, Andres Galarraga, Jim Thome, Gary Sheffield and Adam Dunn to go along with Frank Thomas, Bonds, Babe and Frank Howard. I'd also consider the father/son duo of Cecil and Prince Fielder as well.

You didn't talk about Stan Musial who in a double header hit 4 consecutive home runs !!! Those were the days I listened the games on the radio

Where is Manny Ramirez??

Out of all the stats Babe Ruth made the one that is the most wild to me is that after Babe hit his 138th home run he set the record so every home run he hit moving forward was the all-time record. Dorktown had a funny way of putting it - that Ruth “dragged” the home run record to 95% of what it is now.

Epic drop!

You tend to shout the last 1 or 2 syllables of each and every sentence. You say something and THEN YELL. Then you talk some more and you shout AG-AIN. For those of you who notice this you will never be able to not notice him DO IT!!

Carlos Delgado is the most underrated player in history and should be a hall of famer. Change my mind

I agree with the video but Big Papi & Hank Aaron should also be mentioned

I did a missionary trip to George Barrios, to the exact dugout with Pujols’ name painted on it. Hit a home run that hit the church in right field that he attended.

Miggy deserved more video time. Dude played in Comerica park which is massive and took away at least 60 homers, dead center was 420 feet

Fairly good choices for the list but I'd have to include 4 players at least in the honorable mentions. Stan Musial, Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle, and Ralph Kiner. The first 3 are baseball immortals and their stats speak for themselves but, in the late 40s and early 50s I'd argue there wasn't a scarier hitter in the NL (except maybe Musial) than Kiner. He led the NL in home runs each of his 1st 7 seasons. His career didn't last long so his counting stats aren't impressive (well 369 HR is impressive considering he only played 10 full seasons).

Who’s Yordaddy?

Frank definitely, no one intimidated pitchers like that. He would swing a steal rod in the batters box. Frank rules 💪

Frank Thomas had elite power yet chose to go for more of a pure hitting approach with a high batting average and plenty of doubles but perhaps sacrificing some HRs... in the shortened season of 1994 Thomas had an OPS+ of 212, prior to 2001 Bonds best OPS+ was 206 and Pujol's best season was 192... fax!!!

Frank Thomas is an absolute unit.

Frank Thomas was a legit power machine without PEDs.

Mickey Mantle 18 world series homeruns countless triples and runs batted in,,,,Mantle played hurt but showed up in the world Series like no other player since or now.holds record for homeruns hit in world series

Not even an Honorable Mention for Jim Thome?! That’s a shame.

Gary Sheffield

No one absolutely no one compared to Barry bonds in his prime. That stretch from like 2001 to 2004 especially was insane. I don't give a fuck what steroids he was taking I don't give a fuck if people think it's cheating absolutely no one came close to those numbers and they were all fucking juicing. He was hitting slow pitch grapefruits up there. Those numbers are just godly. And much respect to babe Ruth but if you put babe Ruth in today's baseball I don't think he's anywhere near as good. The fact is he was hitting off guys that were throwing 70 and 80 much of the time. And don't get me wrong I understand some of the ballparks were bigger and his bat was bigger and if he had modern training and modern technology people just assumed that he would be just as good, but it is literally impossible to assume that. There is no guarantee that he would be able to rise to the same level with the quality of pictures and scouting and such that we have today. he is very talented so there is a good chance that he would still be a very very very very very very very very very very good hitter butthere are some people that are absolute studs until they reach a certain level of baseball and they just can't adjust no matter how good the technology is no matter how good their training is. I think he would have been a Hall of famer in any era but I do not think he would have had anywhere near as many home runs. And it's literally impossible to know how he would do with modern pitching. It is just night and day better than it used to be. You can almost guarantee that his home runs an average would be down no matter how much he adjusted. And I know that this guy that I'm about to list is not a stud on the level of bonds and pujols and them, and he happens to be my favorite player but you can't tell me that I'm wrong when I say that one of the most feared hitters to face in his prime was Gary Sheffield. He had that absolutely violent swing. He frequently hit 300 with 30 to 40 home runs 100 RBIs 100 bb and usually 50 to 60 k. 3rd baseman were terrified to play against him and he could put the ball out in any part of the field but even the third base coaches would play almost in the outfield area of the third Base line. If he had stayed a little healthier in his career and not missed the equivalent of like two or 3 full seasons in his prime, I think he would have had a legitimate shot at hitting 600 home runs. If Milwaukee and San Diego had not tried to make him a small ball leadoff hitter, he absolutely would have hit 600. Injuries and his first 5 years or so in baseball costume probably cost him 100-125 home runs at least. But his stretch from 99 until 2005 o believe was unreal. 99 he hit 34 home runs 2000 I believe he hit 43 2001 I think he hit like 36 2002 was a little down and he only hit 25 or so but then 2003 he hit 330 with 39 home runs 130ish rbi 2004 and 2005 I think 36 and 35 or 39. He should have been a first ballot Hall of Famer. It's sad what the steroid rumors have done for so many amazing players. I don't give a shit if they were on steroids or not. It was an even playing field because everyone had the chance to take it. Just like everyone has the chance to hire a trainer and weight train. You don't have to do it but it's going to give you an advantage. There's always going to be advantageous. Pictures are going to use substances to make the ball move, hitters are going to take advantage of where they can. Cheating is always been in baseball and it sucks but that's just the way it is. At least with steroids you still have to do the work. You have to eat right you have to work out properly. Steroids give human beings the ability to reach their true potential. the biggest thing that steroids help isn't the strength it's not the distance of the ball it's the healing of injuries and helping guys in their older age that would normally be getting tired towards the end of the season, stay healthier stay in better shape, helps them feel like they did when they were younger. So instead of guys really starting to suffer at the end of the season with fatigue and such because they're older, it helps them basically stay in their prime longer like when they are younger. It's not going to do much for how far you hit the ball. But there were some definite feared hitters in this list bonds being the absolute scariest hands-down bar none no contest

I had a autographed baseball signed by Barry Bonds when he was with Pittsburgh Pirates, they just couldn't beat the damn Braves smh great team at that time in fact last time the Pirates was really good. Bonds, Van Slyke, Bonilla, Bream, Lind, Bell, King, Diaz, Lavaliere, Drebek, Walk, Balinda, good ol days of pirate baseball

Albert Pujols was the best all around hitter I've ever witnessed his 2006 season was highly underated but his best season was 2003

Frank Thomas was smart as a big man to focus on baseball. Way longer career.

Been subscribed a little while, I don't mind much but it is really really noticeable and alot of comments always mention it. Will probably improve views and subs if you adjust it

Damn I forgot or never realized all the golden gloves Barry had.

You said Pujols didn’t get walked a lot, but that was only at the end of his career. He had 6 straight seasons in his prime with more than 90 walks and 4 over 100

Bonds being 20lbs heavier when comparing his 90's homerun title to his 73 homerun title is hilarious lol. That 70 homerun bonds looked like he ate the previous bonds!

Underrated and overlooked: Todd Helton and Larry Walker both should have been on this list.

Ichiro...againsts the A's early in his career I watched a Pitched throw a fastball right past his Ear. Ichiro looked Mad...he sent a Line Drive back at the Pitcher the next play.

I'm commenting before the video starts, Albert Belle better be on this list lol

What about Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Jim Thome, and Fred McGriff?

where is hank Aaron no seriously where is he

My roommates and I always told each other when Bonds was up at bat. Babe Ruth 😂😂😂

Bonds the only guy I ever saw swinging for the fences every swing, but also while not swing for fences. Just his regular swing was so good , because he didn't swing at garbage. Also 40 years earlier he couldn't have worn all the gear protecting his right arm. He'd get blown off plate crowding it like that. No way Bob Gibson let's that happen lol

Narrator, listen to the advice given to you within the comments about how you end your utterances.

Those lost years in Cincinnati... and the strike... oi Ken Griffey jr

Where was pete rose? Dude could hit the lights out and still hustled like he might not be one team tomorrow.

If you're talking about scary hitters, Albert Belle should be in there. He averaged 40 hrs per 162 games.

Miguel Cabrera is worthy of more than an honorable mention. Arguably the greatest right handed hitter of his generation. Also your inflection at the end of every other sentence is so annoying I could barely get through the video.

Tony Gwynn was one of the nicest guys to meet. Albert Belle definitely one of the worst. A friend of mine asked for an autograph on one of his bats that he bought. Belle accused him of stealing it. Was a class act In the minors as well when he was called Joey.

The player shown @13:57 and 22:09 is Orlando Cepeda. Cepeda was #30. Mays was #24. That is clearly a 3 visible on the back of that GIANTS jersey.

Great list but I'm surprised Arod didn't make the cut with 696 homers, 3000+ hits and 2000+ runs and 2000+ rbis. I'm still mad at the Yankees for pulling him before he got to 700. Steroids or not he was a great athlete.

Griffey and Mantle are the two great "what might have beens"

16:19 - we're saying batting average is a completely useless stat? Thats crazy

Most feared olayer was Bo Jackson What an athlete, with power

I was surprised that that Mickey Mantle was not even an Honorable Mention.

Don’t listen to the haters great vid

The cadence and diction of this man.. had to stop watching because his tone would raise at the end word of each sentence

Ricky Henderson!!!!!

I still am in disbelief that Albert had his final season play out like that.

Bonds 2001-2004 stats are absolutely INSANEEEEEE idc if he was on steroids or not

I think jim thome should be on this list along with albert belle

I am very surprised that Albert Belle is not this list. You can say what you want about the corked bat incident. That dude was a freak show. He was a slugger that a pitcher didn't want to a 500ft mistake to left center into the upper deck. If it wasn't for his degenerative hip problem that cut his career short. There is no doubt he would be in the 500 homerun club or possibly 600 homerun club. But his lack of popularity with the media won't do him any favors , if he gets any hall of fame votes. Albert Belle in his prime was the best player to me in my opinion.

No rogers Hornsby or Jimmie fox huh? Glad you put teddy ballgame on here but idk how the hell you got him so low smh

Barry "Juiced" Bonds. HAIL THE CHEAT!

This video is kinda old but Maple Woods (the place Pujols went) isn’t in Kansas

My uncle use to play for the mlb the mets just retired his jersey

I wish we could’ve seen how Josh Hamilton would’ve played out he was great for his short career

Babe ruth was so far ahead of his time... that dude was an alien 👽

Mickey Mantle got SNUBBED

Delgado would be remembered a lot more if it hadn't been for bad timing. His prime was both after the Blue Jays went back to back and weren't as good a team and a lot of the attention went to other players during that era.

Every sentence has the exact same rhythm and the same up/down inflection pattern. Very annoying.

Jim Thome....👍👍👍👍💯💯💯💯

Griffey would have been a better young and clean Bonds if he’d been able to stay healthy. The numbers he put up are great on their own, but considering what he could have done, he had a chance to be at the top of some big lists.