Home Run

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Home Run

The Definitive History of Baseball's Ultimate Weapon

David Vincent
Foreword by Jayson Stark

304 pages

Hardcover

April 2007

978-1-59797-035-8

$34.95 Add to Cart
Paperback

May 2008

978-1-59797-036-5

$24.95 Add to Cart
eBook (PDF)
Ebook purchases delivered via Leaf e-Reader

December 2011

978-1-61234-459-1

$24.95 Add to Cart

About the Book

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.

Author Bio

David Vincent is the author of Home Run: The Definitive History of Baseball’s Ultimate Weapon and coauthor of the award-winning book The Midsummer Classic: The Complete History of Baseball’s All-Star Game, and SABR Presents the Home Run Encyclopedia: The Who, What, and Where of Every Home Run Hit Since 1876. Major League Baseball, ESPN, FOX, USA Today, and many other media entities consult him regularly on the history of the home run. He lives in Centreville, Virginia.