The All-Star break marks the unofficial halfway point of the Major League Baseball season, and every July it doubles as a checkpoint for the game’s biggest power hitters. A monster first half can put a slugger on pace for a historic season, and the question fans ask every summer is the same: who has hit the most home runs before the All-Star break, and is anyone chasing the record this year?
The answer at the top has stood for over two decades. Barry Bonds holds the record with 39 home runs before the break in 2001, the same season he went on to set the single-season record of 73. Right behind him is a name that stunned baseball in 2025: Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh, whose 38 first-half homers were the second-most ever and a record for a catcher.
The chart below ranks the most home runs before the All-Star break in MLB history, with the record holders, the full leaderboard, and the context behind the big first halves. Take a look, then we’ll get into the details.
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The record: Barry Bonds, 39 in 2001
The most home runs ever hit before the All-Star break is 39, set by Barry Bonds in 2001. It is no coincidence that this was the same season Bonds shattered the single-season home run record with 73, a historic pace requires a historic first half. Bonds reached his 39 in just 81 games and 259 plate appearances, hitting double-digit home runs in each of the season’s first three months and posting a staggering .305/.487/.826 line before the break.
His most explosive stretch came in May, when he launched 17 home runs in a single month with a 1.036 slugging percentage. That kind of sustained dominance is exactly why the record has stood for more than two decades. Many great sluggers have made runs at it, but reaching 39 by the break remains the gold standard of a monster first half, a number tied directly to the greatest power season the sport has ever seen.
The challenger: Cal Raleigh’s historic 2025
For 24 years, no one came within striking distance of Bonds, until Cal Raleigh’s astonishing 2025 season. The Seattle Mariners catcher belted 38 home runs before the All-Star break, the second-most in MLB history and just one shy of the record. What made it even more remarkable was his position: Raleigh did it as a catcher, the most physically demanding role on the field, shattering Johnny Bench’s long-standing record for the most homers by a catcher before the break.
Raleigh did not slow down, either. He finished the 2025 season with an MLB-leading 60 home runs, becoming the first catcher in history to reach the 60-homer plateau in a single season. His first half was so extraordinary that the only meaningful comparison anyone could find was Bonds in 2001. For a catcher to enter that conversation at all speaks to just how special the performance was.
The 37-homer club and the rest of the leaderboard
Just behind Bonds and Raleigh sits a trio tied at 37 home runs before the break, and it spans the eras. Reggie Jackson did it first in 1969 during his breakout season with the Athletics. Mark McGwire matched it in 1998, the year of his famous home run chase with Sammy Sosa. And Chris Davis joined them in 2013 with the Baltimore Orioles, tying the American League record for first-half home runs. Their 37 each stands as the high-water mark for anyone not named Bonds or Raleigh.
Below them, the leaderboard is a roll call of elite power hitters. Aaron Judge appears multiple times, with 35 in 2025 and big first halves in 2024 and 2022, underscoring his remarkable consistency. Ken Griffey Jr., Luis Gonzalez, Shohei Ohtani, Sammy Sosa, and the legendary Roger Maris, who hit 33 in his record-setting 1961 season, all feature as well. In total, players have reached 30 or more home runs before the break more than 40 times, but only Bonds has ever cleared 38.
Why the All-Star break number matters
The All-Star break total has become a meaningful benchmark because it represents roughly half a season of work, making it a natural checkpoint for projecting where a slugger might finish. A player with 30-plus home runs at the break is on pace for a 50-plus homer season, the kind of campaign that contends for the league lead and, often, the MVP award. It is also a moment of recognition: the biggest first-half performers are rewarded with All-Star selections and a few days in the national spotlight.
Each July, fans and analysts pull up this leaderboard to see whether the season’s hottest hitter has a chance at history. With the 2026 All-Star break set for July 14 in Philadelphia, the question returns once again: can anyone finally challenge Bonds, or even Raleigh’s remarkable 38? The first-half home run race is one of baseball’s most reliable summer storylines, and the record book is always one historic stretch away from being rewritten.
Final Word
The record for the most home runs before the All-Star break is 39, set by Barry Bonds in 2001 on his way to a record 73 for the season. Cal Raleigh’s 38 in 2025 is the closest anyone has come, and stands as a record for a catcher, while a group of legends including Reggie Jackson, Mark McGwire, and Chris Davis sits just behind at 37. It is a leaderboard that captures the greatest power displays in the sport’s history, era by era.
As another season approaches its midpoint, the first-half home run chase remains one of baseball’s most compelling watches. For more on the sport’s biggest sluggers and their biggest swings, see our breakdown of the longest Home Run Derby home runs.