The 500 home run club: baseball's 15 greatest home run hitters from Aaron to Williams

577 Pages·1999·2.26 MB·English

by  Bob Allen

The 500 Home Run Club : Baseball's 15
title: Greatest Home Run Hitters From Aaron to
Williams
author: Allen, Bob.; Gilbert, Bill
publisher: Sports Publishing, Inc.
isbn10 | asin: 1582610312
print isbn13: 9781582610313
ebook isbn13: 9780585053288
language: English
Baseball players--United States--Biography,
Baseball players--United States--Interviews,
subject
Home runs (Baseball)--United States--
History.
publication date: 1999
lcc: GV865.A1A39 1994eb
ddc: 796.357/092/273
Baseball players--United States--Biography,
Baseball players--United States--Interviews,
subject:
Home runs (Baseball)--United States--
History.
The 500
Home Run Club
Baseball's 15 Greatest Home Run Hitters
from Aaron to Williams
By Bob Allen
With
Bill Gilbert
Sports Publishing Inc
Sports PublishingInc.com
© 1999 Bob Allen and Bill Gilbert
All rights reserved.
Director of Production: Susan M. McKinney
Photo insert design: Terry Hayden
Dustjacket design: Terry Hayden
ISBN: 1-58261-031-2
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 99-60756
SPORTS PUBLISHING INC.
804 N. Neil
Champaign, IL 61820
http://www.SportsPublishingInc.com
Printed in the United States.
To my very own Hall of Famer, my wife Ellie, and to my son Tim and
daughter Cathi and my lifelong friends, Hank Aaron and Eddie
Mathews.
And to the baseball greats and not so greats, but major leaguers all,
who
gave generously of their remembrances of the subjects of this book.
In many respects, this is their book.
But most of all to my mentor, Bill Gilbert, ''My Rembrandt With
Words."
B.A.
To Lillian
and Dave and Katy,
champions all.
B. G.
Contents
Dedication vi
Acknowledgments vii
Foreword viii
Prologue ix
Introduction x
1 Hank Aaron 1
2 Ernie Banks 21
3 Jimmie Foxx 38
4 Reggie Jackson 54
5 Harmon Killebrew 72
6 Mickey Mantle 90
7 Eddie Mathews 106
8 Willie Mays 127
9 Willie McCovey 149
10 Eddie Murray 164
11 Mel Ott 180
12 Frank Robinson 193
13 Babe Ruth 213
14 Mike Schmidt 232
15 Ted Williams 247
16 ''Heights by Great Men Reached"
Players Interviewed for this book
Page vi
Acknowledgments
The contents of this book have been reviewed for accuracy by Bruce
Markusen, Senior Researcher for the National Baseball Hall of Fame
Library in Cooperstown, New York.
Special thanks to Steve Gietschier of The Sporting News, Jim Gates of
Baseball's Hall of Fame and Debbie Skalecki, assistant to Bob Allen.
Special thanks are also due to four other people who played key roles
in the publication of this bookAndrew Pope, our literary agent at
Curtis Brown, Ltd. of New York, and our All-Star team at Sports
Publishing Inc.Mike Pearson, Jeff Ellish and Susan McKinney.
Page vii
Foreword
By Hank Aaron
For almost all of the Twentieth Century, America has had a love affair
with home runs. That's why it is so appropriate to publish this book as
the century ends.
Although more home runs than ever seem to be flying out of
ballparksand going fartherhitting them is still the most exciting play in
any sport, and one of the hardest things to do. Even Mark McGwire.
Sammy Sosa, Jose Canseco and Ken Griffey, Jr., who teamed up to
make 1998 ''The Year of the Home Run," will tell you that hitting
home runs is never as easy at it sometimes looks.
I'm flattered to be included in these pages with all-time stars like Babe
Ruth, Willie Mays, Frank Robinson, Harmon Killebrew, Mickey
Mantle, Ted Williams, my old teammateEddie Mathews, and the
others, all the way to the newest member of our club, Eddie Murray.
To hit 500 home runs is a rare athletic achievement, a baseball Mount
Everest, reached by only 15 players out of the 14,500 men who have
played in the Major Leagues. But it is more than a sports
accomplishment. It is also a personal victory in endurance and in a
person's ability and willingness to overcome adversity.
From my own experience I know that a player's challenge is made
more difficult by the phone calls, the stacks of mail, the constant
mobbing by well-meaning fans and the media spotlight that never gets
turned away from you. Here's one example: When I was chasing
Ruth's record of 714 home runs in a career, I had to stay at a different
hotel from the rest of the team when the Braves were on the road.
Another example: I was averaging 3,000 letters a day.
Others in this book faced challenges of their own while hitting over
500 homers. Ruth overcame the effects of his excesses, Mantle played
his entire career on two bad knees, Jimmie Foxx developed a problem
with alcohol during his playing days, Mel Oct was only five feet, nine
inches and weighed only 170 pounds, and Ted Williams missed five
seasonsfive prime seasonsbecause of military service in World War II
and the Korean War. Others overcame different obstacles in their way.
And yet each of them hit more than 500 home runs. Another, Lou
Gehrig, hit 493 and certainly would have hit over 500 if his career had
not been cut short by his tragic illness. When I read of their individual
struggles, it made me appreciate their accomplishments even more.