Toronto Blue Jays George Springer hits 55th leadoff home run placing him second on all time list

Rickey Henderson, then George Springer.

Those are the two names that sit atop the all-time list for leadoff home runs as the Toronto Blue Jays slugger sent career number 55 into the stands of the Rogers Centre on Sunday afternoon.

It took Springer 22 days to break the third-place tie he had found himself in with Alfonso Soriano. Back during a June 2nd game, Springer took Justin Verlander deep on the second pitch of the game.

And on Sunday, he moved out of that tie. Springer sent a 1-0 up-and-in Luis Medina fastball 108.9 MPH off the bat and 392 feet deep in left centre field.

Springer now trails only the legendary Henderson, who sent 81 career leadoff home runs over his 3,081 game career — the fourth most of all-time. Henderson’s career-high in a single season came when he played with the New York Yankees in 1986 sending nine leadoff shots over the wall.

However, Springer’s career high in a season came amid the 2017 season that saw him named World Series MVP with the Houston Astros. He had 12 leadoff homeruns that year. With the Jays, Springer has hit a total of 16 leadoff homers with the team since joining them in 2021. Last season, he hit his most in a year with the Jays blasting nine leadoff shots deep.

Springer has lost some of the power from his bat this season with his slugging percentage dropping to a career-low .411, but he’s still hitting for average with a .265 and is getting on-base in a third of his plate appearances.

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.