The 13 MLB Stars Who Hit 500 Homers and Won a Gold Glove

The first line of Adrian Beltré’s Hall of Fame plaque says it all: “Combined formidable bat with dynamic defense to establish himself as a premier third baseman….”

Beltré finished his 21-year career as the only regular third baseman in history with more than 3,000 hits (he had 3,166) and 450 home runs (477). Five Gold Glove Awards add a little extra shine to his resume.

Beltré nonetheless holds the distinction of falling a few dingers shy of being included on an exclusive list of elite two-way players. Only 13 players in Major League history hit at least 500 home runs and won at least one Gold Glove. Plenty of players in the 500-HR Club never won a Gold Glove. And the none of the five players with the most Gold Glove Awards—Greg Maddux (18), Brooks Robinson (16), Jim Kaat (16), Ivan Rodriguez (13), and Ozzie Smith (13)—came close to 500 home runs.

But no one came closer to being on that list than Beltre. Here are the 13 who did, listed in order of career home runs.

Barry Bonds

Never mind his final numbers. If Barry Bonds’ career had ended on April 17, 2001—the night he drove a pitch from Dodgers righthander Terry Adams into McCovey Cove to become the 17th player to hit 500 home runs—his Hall of Fame credentials would have been unimpeachable. He already had all eight of his Gold Gloves in the bag (five with the Giants after the three he earned with the Pirates).

Of course, he’d go on to hit a Major League-record 73 home runs that season, win his first of four straight National League MVP Awards, and eventually finish his career with an unprecedented 762 home runs.

Henry Aaron

He was best known for his hammer (and for hitting 755 career home runs, a record that stood for 31 seasons before it was surpassed by Bonds). But there was a three-year stretch early in his 23-year career when Henry Aaron established there was more to his game than pure power.

Between 1958-1960, Aaron won three straight Gold Gloves (the only ones of his career) and hit 109 home runs for the Milwaukee Braves. In fact, 1959 arguably was the best all-around season of his iconic career. Besides winning the Gold Glove, Aaron led the Majors in hits (223), batting average (.355), slugging percentage (.636), OPS (1.037), and total bases (400.) Two categories he didn’t even lead the National League that season? Home runs (39) and RBI (126).

Albert Pujols

The career numbers are mind-boggling but pretty much what you’d expect from a player known as “The Machine” for his prolific production. Albert Pujols finished his 22-year career with 2,218 RBI (2nd all-time), 6,211 total bases (2nd ), 686 doubles (5th ) … and, oh by the way, 703 home runs—trailing only Barry Bonds, Henry Aaron, and Babe Ruth in baseball’s most hallowed statistical category.

Pujols also was named Most Valuable Player three times in five seasons with the Cardinals (2005, 2008, 2009). Ironically, he finished second in MVP voting in 2006, the season when he posted career highs in home runs (49) and RBI (137) and won his first of two Gold Gloves.

Alex Rodriguez

Alex Rodriguez hit 52 home runs in 2001, 57 in 2002, and 47 in 2003. Those are the three most prolific home run seasons by any shortstop in Major League history (Ernie Banks also hit 47 back in 1958). Rodriguez, then with the Rangers, managed to win Gold Gloves in the last two seasons of that peerless run (no player at any position ever hit more home runs in a Gold Glove season than A-Rod did in ’02).

He may not have won as many Gold Gloves as Derek Jeter (who won all five of his awards after Rodriguez came to the Yankees and switched to 3B), but he is the only player in Major League history with at least 600 home runs, 3,000 hits, 2,000 RBI, 2,000 runs, and 300 stolen bases.

Willie Mays

Even on a list of rare two-category accomplishments, Willie Mays stands out from the pack. He was perhaps the greatest five-tool player in baseball history, leading the National League in home runs four times, in stolen bases four times, in triples three times, in OPS+ six times.

And then there were the 12 Gold Gloves. Starting in 1957, when the Gold Glove was introduced to honor fielding prowess, Mays earned one each of the next dozen seasons. In six of those seasons (1963-1968), the same three outfielders won Gold Gloves in the National League: Mays, Roberto Clemente, and Curt Flood.

Ken Griffey Jr.

Whether Ken Griffey Jr. was one of the greatest players of all-time is undebatable (Hall of Fame voters certainly agreed; he was elected to Cooperstown in 2016 with the highest voting percentage of anyone in history until he was surpassed first by Mariano Rivera and then Derek Jeter. What remains open for debate is whether Griffey was a more dynamic hitter or fielder.

ESPN SportsCenter might as well have been created just to showcase spectacular catches by Griffey (Google “The Spiderman Catch” he made against Ruben Sierra, mounting the wall in the Kingdome in the process) or the historic home runs (he hit 630 of them, which doesn’t include the home run he hit off the warehouse beyond Camden Yards at the 1993 Home Run Derby) with the prettiest swing you’ll ever see,

Frank Robinson

Frank Robinson is known for the firsts he amassed over his Hall of Fame career. He was the first player to win the MVP in both leagues, earning the honor with the Reds in 1961 and the Orioles in 1966, the season he won the Triple Crown. In 1975, after his playing career, Robinson became the first Black manager in Major League history.

What most people don’t realize is that Robinson won a Gold Glove in 1958, his third Major League season, before he’d even hit his 100th career home run.

Mark McGwire

Mark McGwire’s career was a broken record. There was the rookie home run record (49) he set in 1987, blowing past the previous mark by 11 home runs. There was the legendary No. 62 in 1998, when he surpassed Roger Maris’ defining career accomplishment, and then No. 70 a few weeks later (becoming the first person to cross that unthinkable home run threshold). His 583 career HR were not a record, but they were good enough for 5th place at the time he retired.

Probably the most surprising award on the back of his baseball card is the Gold Glove he won in 1990, interrupting Don Mattingly’s monopoly on that honor (Mattingly was the American League’s Gold Globe first baseman from 1985-1989, and then again from 1991-1994; a back injury landed him on the DL for an extended period in 1990, opening the door for someone else to win the Gold Glove that season. Turned out to be Big Red.

Rafael Palmeiro

Rafael Palmeiro could always hit, dating to his Mississippi State days when he put up the first Triple Crown in SEC history. He finished his Major League career as one of only seven players in the 500 home run/3,000 hit club. In a nine-season stretch (1995-2003), Palmeiro averaged 37 home runs and 121 RBI a year—and picked up three straight Gold Gloves (one with the Orioles, two with the Rangers).

Despite all of that production, Palmeiro never finished higher than 5th in the MVP voting. And only two of his four All-Star appearances came in that nine-year career peak (Jason Giambi and Mike Sweeney were four-time All-Stars during that time.)

Mike Schmidt

Mike Schmidt created a lot of memorable moments for Phillies fans during his 18-year Hall of Fame career. The one he enjoyed most visibly and publicly was his 500th home run, fist-pumping and high-stepping his way down the first baseline.

Schmidt finished with 548 home runs, 515 of which were hit as a third baseman (most of any third baseman in history) and all of which were hit in the Phillies lineup. No one has ever hit more home runs playing his entire career with one team than Schmidt did in Philadelphia.

And only one third baseman won more Gold Gloves than Schmidt, who had 10. Brooks Robinson had 16. Nolan Arenado also has 10, earning a Gold Glove in each of his first 10 Major League seasons.

Mickey Mantle

You know about Mickey Mantle’s 1961 season: The summer-long chase of Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record in which Roger Maris prevailed, finishing the year with 61 home runs while Mantle managed merely a career-high 54 (tied for the 7th-most in baseball history at the time).

Most people probably don’t know much about the follow-up in 1962. Though he’d spend a quarter of the season sidelined with a leg injury, Mantle played well enough to be named American League MVP for the third and final time, appear in his 11th straight All-Star Game, lead the Yankees to another World Series championship and the Majors in several categories (walks, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS), and even win the only Gold Glove of his 18-year career.

Ernie Banks

Henry Aaron never hit 40 home runs in four consecutive seasons. Neither did Willie Mays or Mickey Mantle. None of them had more than four 40-HR seasons in a six-year span.

Ernie Banks did. Mr. Cub hit 40+ homers from 1957-1960. Throw in the 44 he hit in 1955 and Banks recorded five 40-HR seasons in six years. In fact, during those six seasons, Banks hit 248 home runs, more than Aaron, Mays, and Mantle in that same stretch. And he did it as a shortstop.

It was during that run that Banks won his two MVPs (1958, 1959) and had his only Gold Glove season (1960).

Eddie Murray

It was fitting that Eddie Murray hit his 500th career home run with the Orioles. He was named American League Rookie of the Year in 1977 and would go on to hit the first 333 of his home runs for Baltimore (he also won three Gold Gloves in a row during those first 11 seasons as the Orioles’ first baseman).

Murray spent the next 7.5 seasons hitting homers elsewhere (with the Dodgers, Mets, and Indians) before being reacquired by Baltimore to help push for a playoff spot. On Sept. 6, 1996—exactly one year to the day since the Orioles celebrated Cal Ripken surpassing Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games played record—Murray homered off Felipe Lira to join Henry Aaron and Willie Mays as the only players (at the time) with 500 HRs and 3,000 hits.

Murray finished his career second among switch-hitters with 504 home runs, behind only Mickey Mantle. No one has played more games at first base than Murray (2,438).