Every player to hit at least 60 home runs in a season has led the league, except for one. That crown eluded Sammy Sosa, who hit over 60 homers three times.
Over major league history, a total of five players have ever hit 60 or more homers in a season. Babe Ruth was the first, belting 60 homers in 1927, a season where he hit more homers by himself than any team in the AL mustered from their entire rosters. Roger Maris earned the asterisk in 1961, but was eventually recognized as the single season home run leader. Then came the PED Era, with the likes of Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds belting over 60 homers as though they were taking batting practice.
Even with the enhancements, that 60 home run plateau is rarified air. It has been reached only eight times, with McGwire and Sosa the only players to hit over 60 homers more than once. Sosa reached that plateau three times, all of which came from 1998 through 2001. In that time, Sosa hit a total of 243 homers, the best four year run in major league history.
But that power streak only led to one home run title, when Sosa led the league with 50 home runs in 2000. He would also lead the league again in 2002, when he belted 49 home runs, but he was unable to take the crown in any season where he hit over 60 homers, making him the only player to reach that plateau and not lead the league.
Sosa simply happened to come against some of the greatest power performances in baseball history. In 1998, he belted 66 homers, only to finish second when McGwire hit 70. Sosa ended up with the last laugh that year, as he was named the NL MVP and the Cubs reached the postseason. The following year, he hit 63 homers, but finished two home runs behind McGwire.
Then, in 2001, Sosa again eclipsed the 60 home run threshold, belting 64 homers. However, that was the year that Barry Bonds hit 73 home runs in just 476 at bats, as he punished every strike he saw that year.
Of course, we can argue as to how legitimate these seasons are. McGwire admitted to his own PED usage, while Bonds claims that he thought his trainer was just giving him flaxseed oil instead of a PED. Sosa, meanwhile, maintains that he never failed a PED test, proving that he was not chemically enhanced, despite his obvious change in body type and his being one of the 104 players named in the Mitchell Report.
Unless those numbers are stricken from history, Sammy Sosa remains the only player to hit over 60 homers in three different seasons. And he remains the only player in MLB history to not lead the league in a season where they hit 60 or more home runs.