Blue Jays' George Springer moves into 2nd place all time with 55th leadoff home run

There's nothing like sparking your team with a home run out of the leadoff spot, and Toronto Blue Jays outfielder George Springer is very familiar with the feeling.

Springer opened the bottom of the first inning of Sunday's game against the Oakland Athletics with a solo blast to move into sole possession of second place on MLB's all-time leaderboard for leadoff homers with his 55th dinger of that variety. Springer broke the tie with Alfonso Soriano, and now trails only Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, who accomplished the feat 81 times in his illustrious career. Springer also passed Craig Biggio — father of Blue Jays teammate Cavan Biggio — earlier this season.

Toronto's offence didn't look back from there, cruising to a 12-1 win to clinch the series victory over Oakland. Springer finished the game 2-for-3 with a walk and contributed two RBI.

The 33-year-old has established himself as one of the most effective leadoff hitters in MLB history, and has spent 856 of his 1,082 games at the top of the lineup card. In those 856 contests he owns an impressive .299/.371/.561 slash line in plate appearances as his team's first batter of the game.

Overall, Springer hasn't been as productive as usual so far in 2023. Entering Sunday's game he was hitting .261 with a .724 OPS, with the latter number marking a career-low. His offensive statistics have been dragged down by an abysmal start to the season, during which he battled illness. In March and April, he hit just .225 with a .599 OPS.

The four-time All-Star and 2017 World Series MVP is in the third season of a six-year, $150-million contract he signed in 2021 after spending the first seven years of his career with the Houston Astros.