The Lexington Legends' Courtney Hawkins is chasing history in 2022. The leftfielder enters the final 10 games of the regular season with 44 home runs and he leads the league in that category.
Hawkins is one of just five players to ever clear the 40-homer mark and just the second since 2005 to do so.
Founded in 1998, the Atlantic League is now in its 24th year. In year three, Ozzie Canseco of the Newark Bears hit 48 homers, a mark that has stood for 21 years. York's Telvin Nash was the most recent to surpass 40, knocking 41 in 2019. The other 40-homer hitters includ Nashua's Brian Becker with 41 in 2005, and Jose Viero of Lehigh Valley and Somerset during the 2000 season.
Hawkins is in his fourth year in the ALPB, having played with Sugar Land in 2018 and 2019 and with the Legends the last two seasons. He has 96 career homers in the Atlantic League after hitting 32 with the Legends in 2021.
Lexington and Hawkins have 10 more regular season games for him to catch Canseco and etch his name atop the Atlantic League home run record.