Charlie's Baseball Book Report

Charlie wrote a book report on Jeff Kiseloff's Who is Baseball's Greatest Hitter? I need to find a way to add his photos and captions because they are great, but for now, here is the text. Enjoy!


Who is Baseball’s Greatest Hitter?
By Jeff Kisseloff
Mackey Typing Studios Presents
Who is it?
By Charlie Mackey

Who is Baseball’s Greatest Hitter? is about what the title suggests. Who is it? Maybe Mark “Big Mac” McGwire, who hit 70 home runs in 1998. Or maybe Henry “Hammerin’ Hank” Aaron, who hit 755 dingers (another word for home run) in his career. But maybe it’s someone less heard of, like Rogers Hornsby, who has the second highest lifetime batting average in history, and arguably the best five years of any hitter ever from 1921 to 1925.

There weren’t any characters as we think of them, because they were real people. But there were lots of hitters, from the Babe (Babe Ruth), to Ty Cobb, to someone from the 1800s, like Dan Brouthers or Harry Heilmann. There were also odd records, like Babe Ruth’s record for setting records, 192! There were some stats every true baseball fan knows, like Ty Cobb’s lifetime batting average of .367, or Joe DiMaggio’s record 56 game hitting streak. The book also tells about what problems the player had. But what I don’t like about the book is that it says the problem with singles hitters like Ty Cobb, was that they didn’t hit for power, and the problem with power hitters was they didn’t hit for average.

The book mentions a lot great hitters. Ken Griffey Jr., Tris Speaker, Joe Jackson, Mickey Mantle, you name it. But not Roger Maris. I agree with this decision by the author completely. But the inexperienced fan might wonder why. That is because Roger Maris’ best year was 1961, when he hit 61 homers. Other than that year, he had 214 career home runs. So if you pretend 1961 never happened, Maris barely has 200 home runs. But, in comparison, players like Chipper Jones (not included in this book, it was written before his prime) already have 400 home runs in their careers.

But let’s get away from Maris. This book has all kinds of players. It has current players, like Tony Gwynn (he was current when the book was written). It also has mid-period players like Lou Gehrig. And the book even has 19th century players, like Jesse Burkett. A problem the book has is that it includes admitted steroid users such as Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire (Well, actually, McGwire admitted to taking HGH, or Human Growth Hormones, and league officials found steroids in Bonds’ locker after the book was published).

Whenever anyone thinks of Joe DiMaggio, they think of his record 56 game-hitting streak. They might also think of a terrific centerfielder. But you also have to think of the advantages he had. Let’s look at some players on the 1940 Yankees, a team DiMaggio played on. He had pitcher Tiny Bonham, who had 1.90 ERA, and went 9-3. He also had Hall of Fame catcher Bill Dickey behind the plate with an astounding .994 fielding percentage. Of course, DiMaggio himself had 31 homers and 133 RBIs (runs batted in). I mean no offense to Joe DiMaggio, but one reason he had so many RBIs is that he played with terrific players, like catcher Yogi Berra and pitcher Whitey Ford.

Hank Aaron is my favorite player of all time. I like him for more than one reason. One, he played for the Braves. Two, he is the all time home run king (I know Barry Bonds has more, but he is involved in steroids). Let’s look at some stats to see how good he was compared to Dusty Baker, former Cubs manager and fellow Brave. Baker played in 149 games; Aaron 112. But they both hit 20 home runs and had 69 RBIs. They had similar statistics, yet Aaron played in 37 less games. That was how dominant Aaron was.

Babe Ruth is undoubtedly the most famous player in the history of baseball. Ask anyone. From 60 homers in a season, to originally being a Red Sox, anything can happen when Babe Ruth is involved. What happened with Babe Ruth and the Red Sox was that the Red Sox general manager Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth for money to make a Broadway play (Frazee was also stage owner). Red sox fans (including myself) still haven’t forgiven him.

In conclusion, this was a good book. One thing I must mention is the omission of Pete Rose. When discussing a list of greatest hitters, Pete Rose must be included. After all, he is the all time leader in hits. He has 4,192. But the reason he is excluded is he admittedly gambled on games. But what I don’t get is how can you exclude Pete Rose but include “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, who was involved in the “Black Sox” gambling scandal.

My decision for best hitter of all time is Ty Cobb. But my decision for the best year was Rogers Hornsby’s .424 average in 1924. So who do you think it is? It’s your choice.