On September 23, 1988, José Canseco swiped second base for the 40th time that season during a game against the Milwaukee Brewers — and in doing so became the first player in major league history to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in the same year. Thirty-eight years later to the day, Canseco shared the video of that moment on social media. And the club he founded that afternoon in Milwaukee still has just six members.
What Canseco Did in 1988 — and Why the Numbers Still Hit Hard
Canseco was 24 years old and playing for the Oakland Athletics when he closed that season with 42 home runs, 40 stolen bases, a .307 batting average, and 124 RBI. He led the American League in home runs and slugging percentage (.569 — roughly one extra-base hit for every two at-bats). This wasn’t a borderline season that barely scraped the milestone: it was an MVP campaign.
And it was exactly that. Canseco won the 1988 American League MVP award unanimously — all 28 first-place votes went to him. He remains the only member of the 40/40 Club to win the MVP in the same season as the feat, without a single dissenting ballot. None of the five who came after him can say that.
He had hit his 40th home run five days earlier, on September 18, off Bret Saberhagen of the Royals. On September 23, in Milwaukee, he stole bases 39 and 40. Oakland won that game 9-8. Circle closed.
The 40/40 Club: Six Members in Over 150 Years of Organized Baseball
After Canseco, five others eventually joined — and they took their time getting there:
- Barry Bonds — 1996 (42 HR / 40 SB)
- Alex Rodriguez — 1998 (42 HR / 46 SB)
- Alfonso Soriano — 2006 (46 HR / 41 SB)
- Ronald Acuña Jr. — 2023 (41 HR / 73 SB — also founding the 40/70 Club that year)
- Shohei Ohtani — 2024 (54 HR / 59 SB — enough to create the 50/50 Club on top of it)
In terms of how fast they got there, Canseco reached the milestone in 151 games — third quickest among the six. Ohtani was fastest at 126 games, followed by Soriano at 147. Acuña needed 152, and A-Rod 153.
What rarely gets mentioned: not one of the five who followed him did it in a season where they also won the MVP unanimously. That combination belongs to Canseco alone — achieved without Statcast, without exit velocity dashboards, without any of the modern player development infrastructure that teams rely on today.
Why This Anniversary Matters Right Now
The 40/40 Club re-entered the public conversation with Acuña’s 2023 season and Ohtani’s 2024 campaign — back-to-back years with a new member, something that had never happened before in the club’s history. That puts the milestone in active discussion right as Canseco posts the video of that stolen base in Milwaukee.
There’s a cultural footnote worth mentioning: when Jay-Z opened his famous New York club in 2003, he named it the 40/40 Club as a direct tribute to this baseball milestone. An Oakland slugger from the late ’80s gave his name to one of the most recognizable venues in entertainment. That kind of cultural reach doesn’t get manufactured.
Thirty-eight years on, the question is when — or whether — number seven arrives. The athleticism required by today’s game makes it feel possible. But with only six members across more than a century and a half of baseball, it’s never felt close to routine. For now, the club has six names and one founding date: September 23, 1988.
