Customer Reviews

Baseball's Ultimate Power: Ranking the All-Time Greatest Distance Home Run Hitters

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This is apparently the book Bill Jenkinson intended to write many years ago, before he unexpectedly became so engrossed in the career of Babe Ruth, resulting in "The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs". In this new book, Bill shares his decades of research, ranking the top 40 long-distance hitters of all-time (and listing the 10 longest official home runs of each man, with distance estimates for each blast). Also included are rankings and discussions of the top-ten current tape-measure leaders, as well as the top five Negro League sluggers and top five 19th century batsmen. Excellent appendices include the 100 longest official major league home runs ever hit (well as the longest triples, doubles, and even fly outs) and a calendar that lists the longest drives struck by date.

This book is meticulously researched and documented, and is more than just a book of lists. The author devotes ample space to discussing the career of each slugger, and the history and appeal of tape measure home runs. This book is a must for any true baseball fan, and will allow fans of different generations to learn about and celebrate the history of the game together.

Of course, even with this in-depth treatment, the subject of extra-long home runs is still not exhausted. Bill Jenkinson has hinted of his research into how sluggers from different eras would fare comparatively in the same-sized baseball stadiums. I'm eagerly awaiting Bill's next book, which will hopefully address this issue in more detail.

Bill Jenkinson contributes a one-of-kind book, rating baseball's best all-time long-distance home run kings in "Baseball's Ultimate Power." Mr. Jenkinson relies on over 30 years of his research to provide baseball fans with compelling evidence for his ranking of long-distance home run hitters, ranking Babe Ruth easily in first place, followed by Jimmie Foxx in second place, slightly ahead of Mickey Mantle, followed by Frank Howard and Dick Allen. Mark McGwire is sixth best and Barry Bonds is 17th. The author bases his rankings on three criteria--first, what is the longest single drive that each man is known to have hit; second, what are the ten mightiest four baggers hit by each player, and last, the player's career home run total. How else would we know that Ruth slugged many more than 10 home runs over 500-ft, and Foxx and Mantle both hit at least ten 500-ft tape measure jobs. Bill's narrative is provacative, covering every angle of factors that affect home run hitting, and why some sluggers from earlier eras probably were as strong as many sluggers today, even with weight training more in vogue now. Bill covers much more in his baseball "power compendium," even such topics as players with the most powerful throwing arms, and home-run hitting power related to a player's size. If you share other baseball fans' long-running fascination with home run hitting, this book is a must read--reviewed by Mark Millikin.

A superb baseball book! This is THE DEFINITIVE study of the power hitters of baseball. It is well written, replete with photos and a joy to read.

I was already sold on "Baseball Ultimate Power" having previously read "The year Babe Ruth hit 104 home runs" by the same author. I was not dissapointed. Ultimate Power is the Ultimate book about baseball power hitters through the ages. The book presents different chapters, including power hitters from the 19th century (which is HIGHLY interesting), power hitters from the Negro Leagues, present-day smashers and so on. Every 10 year period from 1900 is analyzed for your pleasure and entertainment. Tons of good memories will come back to you (if you are 45 years old or older) and tons of relevant information will be available if you're 45 or younger.

You also benefit from special sections such as "most powerful outfield arms", "fastest pitchers" and others fun and interesting categories.

After going through the book, you won't be caught mixing up Juan Pierre with Dan Brouthers or Herb Washington with Harmon Killebrew.

All in all, one of the very best baseball books I came in contact with.

Every baseball writer should put down the pen (or step away from the keyboard) and read this under appreciated effort. Baseball's Ultimate Power makes bold statements and backs them up with cold hard facts. Beyond the numbers, Jenkinson uses infallible logic and clever verbiage in combination to create a tome that is hard to argue with, yet easy to read. I highly recommend you pick it up.

I was shocked to learn of the placement of some of the sluggers in this work, but Bill is the expert and backs up his rankings with data and ironclad facts.

For fans of the long ball, this is a must have work.
It puts to rest any of the debates.

A very well researched book on the greatest power hitters in baseball. The actual distances of their greatest home runs and the date and place they hit them are here. There are sections on each player, with detailed histories, and in many cases their own words concerning which was their longest home run.

And of course, Babe Ruth leads them all by a wide margin. He hit more 500' or longer home runs than anyone in the history of baseball. In fact, he hit more 500' home runs than the next five men combined. You want to argue if Ruth was the greatest power hitter in baseball, consider this one proof; of the 100 longest documented in-game home runs in the history of the sport, Ruth hit 29 of them. Of the 10 longest he hit 6 of them. Of the 5 longest, he hit all of them.

After Ruth, though, it's also a great book on the other greatest power hitters in a statistic driven match up for second place and below. Most knowledgeable baseball fans will probably guess the majority of the top ten. My son, an avid baseball fan who can tell you which teams are where on any given day and how many home runs the top players have, was able to guess 9 of the top ten with his incorrect choice coming in at 11th.

This book will convince anyone who accepts that 4 is a larger number than 3 based on the logic of math, instead of a personal opinion. It's a fallacy of some younger fans to think that the tape measure home run started with McGwire or even with Mantle. They've measured home runs for over 100 years, and the measurements have come from different sources. It can be honestly said that the measurements of the first half of the 20th Century were as accurate as today because there were more newspaper men covering the game and therefore more eyewitnesses to put down in print for all time where the ball left the park and where it landed, as well as the time, the pitcher, and the pitch count. Because they lacked the cameras of today and instant replay, as well as TV, it was the job of the sports writers to give all the details to the millions of fans who could not be there to see the game. The tape measure home run, as well as the tape measure, are not new inventions.

Baseball keeps the best statistics of any sport and always has. It is the most statistic driven sport in the history of sports and the records are meticulous and always from various sources. So I have no doubt of the accuracy of the numbers.

This is a very good book with the definitive answers on the top power hitters in the history of the sport and should be on any baseball fan's book shelf.

Let me be as direct as I can, this book is a poor and lazy work which tries to imply that hitting a ball for great distance is, unto itself, the hall mark of a good hitter. I mean come one, Ron Kittle is listed in this book. This book celebrates the worst one dimensional aspects of baseball while ignoring the great skill and ability that goes into home runs. How someone like Ron Kittle ranks higher than say Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett who not only hit more home runs but drove in more runners is the proof.

This book is total rubbish as well because it ignores the entire steroid controversy and makes it seem like what Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa did was completely fine. Don't waste your time on this insult to any baseball fan's intelligence.