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.
Becoming a member of the 40-40 club is an elusive achievement in modern American baseball, as players who possess the power to hit 40 home runs and the speed to steal 40 bases in a season are rare. 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; home run totals were extremely high in the late 1990s, but stolen bases became more rare as the steal was a sparingly used tactic.
Only four professional players have achieved the requisite numbers for the 40-40 club, and none have done so more than once.
| Year | Player | Team | HR | SB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | José Canseco | Oakland Athletics | 42 | 40 |
| 1996 | Barry Bonds | San Francisco Giants | 42 | 40 |
| 1998 | Alex Rodriguez | Seattle Mariners | 42 | 46 |
| 2006 | Alfonso Soriano | Washington Nationals | 46 | 41 |
The 40/40 Club is a chain of All-American sports bars and lounges owned by hip-hop mogul Jay-Z and partners Desiree Gonzalez and Juan Perez. The name is borrowed from the baseball term used to denote the exclusive group of Major League Baseball players who have achieved the rare individual feat of recording 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in a single season.
