The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs: Recrowning Baseball's Greatest Slugger [Paperback]

Bill Jenkinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 9, 2007

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

In this exhaustively researched examination of Babe Ruth's storied career, Jenkinson argues that the Bambino was the greatest slugger of all time, not Barry Bonds, not Sammy Sosa, not Hank Aaron, and not Roger Maris. To make his point, he approaches Ruth from three perspectives. First, he discusses and analyzes Ruth's historic batting power, relying on original newspaper accounts. Second, he examines Ruth's "hidden" career of about 800 exhibition games. Third, he does a degree-of-difficulty analysis between the various conditions (equipment, medical sophistication, and press scrutiny, among other factors) Ruth experienced and those of sluggers in other eras. For example, Ruth injured a knee early in his career, and it was a recurring problem. It would have been easily repaired with modern medicine. Current conventional sports wisdom holds modern athletes are bigger, faster, stronger, and therefore better. Here we have the carefully researched, imaginatively argued contrary position. Great reading for any baseball fan, but especially those whose passions are ignited by comparisons of players from different eras. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"In a fresh perspective on Ruth's position in the pantheon of sport and American heroes, we are spared `gee-whiz' adulation and presented with meticulous research that stands on its own." -- Denver Post

"This fascinating, in-depth study (based on 28 years of research!) argues that Ruth hit baseballs farther than any man in the game--ever." -- Playboy

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (February 9, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786719060
• ISBN-13: 978-0786719068
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #786,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #29 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( R ) > Ruth, Babe

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you Mr. Jenkinson!, May 3, 2007

By 

R. Torstenson "erikthered" (Springfield, Virginia USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs: Recrowning Baseball's Greatest Slugger (Paperback)

This book is unlike any other on Babe Ruth, and I have read quite a few most recently Montville's "Big Bam" and Reisler's treatise on the 1920 season. Jenkinson has spent nearly 30 years recreating all of Ruth's long drives, those counted as homers and those that may have just been flyouts. I had no idea that records this detailed could be obtained from Ruth's era, but Jenkinson has read every sportswriting account imaginable for each official game and for hundreds of exhibition (preseason, during season, and postseason) games that Ruth participated in.
I had always labored under the assumption, even after reading all the bios, that many of Ruth's homeruns were simply the product of the short right field at Yankee Stadium. In fact, the Babe hit very few down the right field line; most of his drives were between right-center and left-center field. Right-center was quite a shot in Ruth's day since the fence angled out sharply. The Babe also had tremendous power to the opposite field.
Jenkinson's "spray" diagrams show all the homeruns hit by Ruth and their approximate distances. Aerial photos of the stadiums around Ruth's time are also shown and arrows shown where Babe's longest drives landed.
A second assumption of mine is that Babe did not take care of himself over the years. In fact, the man wanted to exercise more but the Yankee ball club would not let him in order "to save his legs" for the long season. Ruth had taken it upon himself before spring training started, for several seasons, to hire one of the best exercise gurus in New York. The fact that Ruth could keep coming back strong after all his early season illnesses and nagging injuries shows the fortitude of the man. Baseball was his life and he never wanted to let any one down that had come to see him play. He had a remarkable compassion for people that is shown in several places.
The third assumption was that Babe was probably just an average fielder. I had always wondered about what type of fielder he was, and was always surprised that no biography that I read ever mentioned this. In fact he was an elite fielder, one of the best in the game according to Tris Speaker, the premier outfielder of the day. He was also a terrific baserunner until his last five years.
Babe Ruth was one of a kind and he would be a superstar in any era, whether as the great pitcher he was or as an everyday player. Jenkinson does an interesting analysis of how difficult it was for Ruth as opposed to the difficulties faced by today's players. He also has analyzed conservatively how many homeruns the Babe would hit based on today's shrunken stadiums. It will show the sluggers of the past 30 years in a new light. I hope to meet the author someday at the Babe Ruth museum. No one compares to the Bambino.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An impressive home run of a book, September 8, 2007

By 

Barry Sparks "freelance writer" (York, PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs: Recrowning Baseball's Greatest Slugger (Paperback)

If you've read "The Big Bam" by Leigh Montville and/or "Babe" by Robert Creamer, you owe it to yourself to read Bill Jenkinson's book. Although you may think it's not possible, Ruth was a better slugger than you ever imagined. He was truly one of a kind.

Jenkinson's book is interesting, fascinating and meticulously well researched. He spent more than 25 years researching each of Ruth's home runs, during spring training, the regular season, post season and on barnstorming tours.

Part of Jenkinson's book details Ruth's "hidden career" of exhibition games. Jenkinson calculates that Ruth participated in 800 exhibition games in six countries, 42 states and more than 200 cities. He blasted more than 300 homers in those games. In 1921, Ruth played an unbelievable total of 207 games. A consummate showman, Ruth kept an incredible schedule, not to mention his off-the-field activities.

Jenkinson focuses on Ruth's power and superlatives. The Bambino didn't hit many routine home runs. Most fans really don't comprehend how spacious the ballparks were in Ruth's days. Jenkinson calculates that Ruth walloped 22 fly outs that traveled more than 450 feet. No one has ever hit as many balls as far as Ruth. What he could do in today's ballparks is unfathomable.

Jenkinson spends 70 pages near the end of the book discussing comparative difficulty of Ruth's home run feats compared to today's game, drawing conclusions and making projections. Stadium photographs showing where some of Ruth's monumental homers landed are particularly interesting and impressive.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars research and more research, July 23, 2007

By 

brio (Upper Dublin, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs: Recrowning Baseball's Greatest Slugger (Paperback)

Any historian or student of history must engage in countless hours of research in order to convincingly prove his thesis. Mr. Jenkinson succeeds with flying colors. The most fascinating section of this book is the one dealing with comparative difficulty. Jenkinson leaves no doubt that Ruth played under much more adverse conditions than modern day sluggers. I telephoned Mr. Jenkinson about a couple of points of comparison not mentioned in his book that had me wondering. One was the fact that Ruth played against only 7 teams and faced pitchers much more frequently (4-man rotations) than today's players. Could this be considered an advantage for Ruth. Jenkinson replied that after a while it really doesn't matter how often a hitter faces a pitcher. Another point I made was the fact that during day games, which Ruth played exclusively, shadows can hinder the batter's view. Again Jenkinson said that while this may have been a disadvantage for Ruth, the impact would have been negligent.
I must say that his willingness to discuss these issues (and others) with a reader of his fine book only makes his work more appreciated. I am looking forward to his next book.