Top 10 Baseball Home Run Hitters

Since Babe Ruth started drawing big crowds with his big bat in the 1920s, the home run has meant more to baseball than just about any other individual achievement. What can be more exciting than the crack of the bat and the ball flying to the far reaches of a baseball stadium? From Ruth to Aaron to Bonds, Ken Rappoport examines the ten greatest sluggers to ever step up to the plate. The other players included are Lou Gehrig, Josh Gibson, Ken Griffey, Jr., Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Sadaharu Oh, and Alex Rodriguez.

Bill Deane profiles powerful home-run hitters of the past, like greats Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth; as well as contemporary talents like Frank Thomas. They, along with seven other long-ball hitters: Jimmie Foxx, Harmon Killebrew, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Willie McCovey, Fred McGriff, Mike Schmidt, have earned a place in baseball history.

"A collective biography of the top 10 home run hitters, both past and present, which includes accounts of game action, career statistics, and more"--Provided by publisher

The tape measure home run is the greatest single act of power in the game of baseball, and the tales of these homers are the most cherished legacies players and fans hand down through the generations. Fully illustrated with photos of the players and aerial ballpark photos showing the landing spots of each stadium's longest homers.

The art of hitting is one of the most complicated parts of baseball. There is nothing more exhilarating for a fan to watch than a favorite player connecting on a game winning hit. The ten players profiled in this book have gotten their share of hits and thrilled many crowds. Players like Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron were known more for their power, while others, such as Ty Cobb, Pete Rose, and Tony Gwynn are known for their ability to reach base by hitting the ball to all fields. Other players profiled include Rogers Hornsby, Stan Musial, Frank Thomas, Honus Wagner, and Ted Williams. In Top 10 Baseball Hitters, author Bill Deane profiles ten of the most dangerous men to ever set foot in the batter's box.

The home run is indeed baseball's ultimate weapon. It can change a game in a heartbeat, making a tight game into a blowout or a seemingly easy win into a nail-biter. Homers are majestic, powerful, and awe inspiring. And sluggers are the sport's biggest stars, from the days of Babe Ruth through Barry Bonds. David Vincent, called "The Sultan of Swat Stats" by ESPN, delves into the long history of the home run with great detail and color. He starts when the rules of the game were highly unstable and sometimes the definition of a home run could change in a park from year to year; follows through the "Deadball Era," when the home run was rare; explores the explosion Babe Ruth brought to baseball in the 1920s; discusses how both world wars affected homer statistics; looks at great home run races such as Maris versus Mantle in 1961; assesses the effects of the juiced ball, juiced players, thin air, and smaller ballparks; and so much more. If there is something to know about home run history, look to David Vincent for the answer-Major League Baseball does. With Home Run: The Definitive History of Baseball's Ultimate Weapon, now you can know it too. A 1990s Nike commercial proclaimed that "chicks dig the long ball." In this thorough and colorful look at baseball's ultimate weapon, David Vincent shows you why.

Statistics are the lifeblood of baseball. Managers pore over batting averages to determine game day lineups and batting orders; high number of runs batted in and low earned run averages receive praise from the press, higher salaries from the front office, and love from fans; and the fate of fantasy baseball players rises and falls with each statistical change. The prominence of the RC/27 and other more complex, formula-driven stats has made numbers even more important to understanding and appreciating the game. For all these baseball buffs and more, Frederick E. Taylor provides a new measure of hitting prowess that just might be a game changer. Taylor's potential runs per game (PRG) measure accounts for batters getting on base, advancing runners, and driving in runs, and it separates leadoff and second batters from those in the middle of the order. Taylor introduces the measure, explains how it works, and applies it to players past and present. He breaks the history of major league baseball into eight eras based on differences in runs scored per game. He systematically—player-by-player and position-by-position—compares the results of the PRG measure to those drawn from other statistics, such as on-base percentage and slugging average. Taylor shows that PRG is more accurate and that career clutch hitting is a myth. Sabermetricians, baseball fans of all stripes, and anyone who earns a living from the sport will find a wealth of information and a whole new set of stats to obsess over in The Runmakers. Measuring baseball will never be the same.

In an unprecedented look at Babe Ruth's amazing batting power, sure to inspire debate among baseball fans of every stripe, one of the country's most respected and trusted baseball historians reveals the amazing conclusions of more than twenty years of research. Jenkinson takes readers through Ruth's 1921 season, in which his pattern of battled balls would have accounted for more than 100 home runs in today's ballparks and under today's rules. Yet, 1921 is just tip of the iceberg, for Jenkinson's research reveals that during an era of mammoth field dimensions Ruth hit more 450-plus-feet shots than anybody in history, and the conclusions one can draw are mind boggling.