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Rating: 
Summary: Simple and On-Target
Review: Coach and player, parent and child: This is a great simple yet technically accurate book for bringing home the basics of hitting for the young player. I'm using it now for a winter clinic on hitting (and pitching).And at the price I saw on Amazon, its far cheaper than some baseball 'deals' available at some baseball coaching web sites.
Rating:
Summary: If you want to know how to play the game this is the book!!
Review: Hitting a baseball is considered one of the most difficult skills in sports. "The Mike Schmidt Study" is an excellent book on the subject of hitting. You cannot go wrong from reading and applying the content of this book. There are many theories and opinions on the science and art of hitting...from linear mechanics to rotational mechanics to combining both. This book is well written. Without wasting your time with lengthy text explanations it shows with clear illustrations and simple but effective drills how to learn and improve your hitting. The book covers all aspects of hitting, from theory to the swing and mental mechanics that are necessary to excel as a hitter. No one book is going to cover or satisfy completely all there is to know about hitting. But the Mike Schmidt Study, with its twelve-lesson format, is as good a study on hitting as you will come across anywhere. Excellent for coaches, hitters and parents who want to help their son or daughters master the skill of hitting. I have used a great deal of what I have learned here in my hitting clinics to youngsters ... I wish I knew just a fifth of what is in this book when I played "AA". You can't go wrong reading this book...anyone that says differently just do not know what they are talking about or and never played baseball, let alone try to hit a ball.
Rating:
Summary: Among the best that I have read...great book!!!
Review: Hitting a baseball is considered one of the most difficult skills in sports. "The Mike Schmidt Study" is an excellent book on the subject of hitting. You cannot go wrong from reading and applying the content of this book. There are many theories and opinions on the science and art of hitting...from linear mechanics to rotational mechanics to combining both. This book is well written. Without wasting your time with lengthy text explanations it shows with clear illustrations and simple but effective drills how to learn and improve your hitting. The book covers all aspects of hitting, from theory to the swing and mental mechanics that are necessary to excel as a hitter. No one book is going to cover or satisfy completely all there is to know about hitting. But the Mike Schmidt Study, with its twelve-lesson format, is as good a study on hitting as you will come across anywhere. Excellent for coaches, hitters and parents who want to help their son or daughters master the skill of hitting. I have used a great deal of what I have learned here in my hitting clinics to youngsters ... I wish I knew just a fifth of what is in this book when I played "AA". You can't go wrong reading this book...anyone that says differently just do not know what they are talking about or and never played baseball, let alone try to hit a ball.
Rating:
Summary: If you want to know how to play the game this is the book!!
Review: I still treasure my autographed edition that I got right after it was published. I grew up playing a lot of hard ball and was actually fairly decent . . . If you are a high school player or a youth coach you will gain invaluable information from the master himself - # 20 MICHAEL JACK SCHMIDT.
Rating:
Summary: This Book Is A 'Must Read'
Review: Rob Ellis, with his experience as a professional player and coach (as well as being a licensed clinical therapist) is as fine a writer on hitting as I have found. As a developer of a the largest website on the internet devoted totally to hitting (with members in all 50 states and 15 foreign countries) I can truly say that Rob's articles on this site have had a most positive effect on the members. There have been many good comments on Rob's articles - many of the articles taken from this book. The Online Hitting Academy takes pride in having Rob Ellis as a long-standing regular writer. I would advise anyone interested in developing their hitting skills or those of their team to definately study any of Rob's books. "The Mike Schmidt Study" should be a standard on any coach's or player's bookshelf. It's a 'must read' for anyone who is serious about learning the techniques and skills that have helped even seasoned professionals!
Rating: 
Summary: The absolute WORST job of research in baseball literature!
Review: This "comprehensive exegesis of the history of batting theory" is completely worthless for research purposes because of countless egregious errors and misrepresentations. The reason for this is that the authors, Schmidt and Ellis, relied on fallacious presumption to construct the first two chapters (early 20th cen. hitting theory), rather than REAL instructional manuals, player bio- and autobiographies, newspaper articles, thousands of photos and motion pictures, etc. Evidence of this is that nothing earlier than Ted Williams' "Science of Hitting" (1970) is cited. Space limits me to refute but a few of Schmidt's myths, but important references to be consulted are as follows (symbols will be cited Tumultuous Life and Times," ('94) by Richard Bak; $"My War With Baseball," ('62) by Rogers Hornsby; %"Babe Ruth's Own Book of Baseball's Big Train," ('95) by Henry W. Thomas; /"Jimmie Foxx," ('96) by W. Harrison Daniel; &"Superstars of Baseball," ('94) by Bob Broeg; *"From Cobb To Catfish," ('75) by John Kuenster; +"Total Baseball," 4th ed. ('95); <"Lost Ballparks," ('92) by Lawrence Ritter; >"The Ballplayers," ('92); \"Strikeout," ('95) by William Curran; ~"The Physics of Baseball," ('93) by Robert Adair; and photos printed in ="The Conlon Collection (baseball cards)," ('91-'95) allegedly an "evolutionary ladder" of hitting theory, from Cobb ("Early Weight Shift") to Williams ("Rotation"), with "evolutionary ladder" is erroneous, because the story that Lau advanced his system from old-time players (see also p. 28) is a MYTH! More heavy the hitter had to throw his weight forward to lug, or carry, the heavy bat through the strike zone," comparing their motion to a javelin thrower. P. 21, "Bat speed" is "slow;" "Description" is "yank." P. 86, While comparing old-timers to FIVE-YEAR OLDS, Mike says, "...the old-timer[,] whose credits them as stupid pansies who swung ten-pound sticks!! Average, in lightest hitter ever, used 30 oz. bats! Cobb used 37-44 oz. bats.(#,p.98) He emphasized a SMOOTH, "automatic" stroke. (@, pp. 147-148) Ruth says, "A too heavy bat requires a jerk to start on it's way, and once underway requires additional effort to direct it's course...not so good. The ideal bat is one...that can be swung with the same EASY, SMOOTH motion with which you swing your arms." (%,pp.170-171) Guess who used the "heavier" bat? Ruth, (42-54 oz.) who hit more 500-ft. homers than anyone else! (Contact Bill Jenkinson regarding this.) Other examples are Sisler (38-42 oz.), Joe Jackson (48), Hornsby (36-39), Ken Williams (54), Hack Wilson (38-40), Foxx (37-42), Clemente (40-42), Dick Allen (40-42), McCovey (38), Stargell (38), etc., and now even Jose Canseco is using a 37-oz. bat. Anyone wanna claim "slow bat speed" for this group? Mike cannot say "heavy bat," because the term "heavy" is relative! Their bats obviously did not feel heavy to them, or they would motion caused restricted hip rotation, greatly reducing their power and bat speed. P. 24, "[For the Early W. Shift hitter] the front leg does not offer...resistance to the weight shift (citing TWO out-of-context photos of "Home Run" Baker as evidence)...if it did, sudden hip rotation Mike, all wrong! First, how does Schmidt think Baker got his nickname? Walter Johnson (who had faced Ruth, Cobb, and Jackson) called Baker "the most dangerous batter I ever faced." (^,p.125; #,p.83.) In Baker's prime years, 1910-1913, he smashed .385 off Johnson, with four homers, three triples, and six doubles, eye-popping numbers for the Dead-Ball Era. Second, the photo on p. 24 is NOT a picture of "bat-lugging!" It is a picture of Baker trying to check his swing after over-commiting! Watch any modern hitter when he is doing this, and he will look the same! The photo on p. 25 is just a photographer's pose, for crying out loud! Third, Cobb says, "As you stride, the hips and shoulders PIVOT forward on a level line and the arms come around in synchronization." (@,p.147) Ruth and Waner also wrote of its importance. (%,pp.153-154; &,p.487) Fourth, the below cited photos show the superb batting form--90 degree hip rotation, and all--of these early hitters! (= 5 , 7, 26, 40, 51, 62, 147, 170, 310, 426, 486, 519, 541, 565, 796, 1002, 1004, 1095, 1130, 1168, 1219, 1222, 1226, 1237, 1240, 1332, 1363, 1366, 1367, 1368, etc.; also see the excellent photos captioned, "The Cobb cut," #,p.39.) This review should clue the reader in to the unreliability of this book as a research tool. Bad show, Mike and Rob! [For anyone interested in more info regarding the errors therein, e-mail us at stradivarius7@yahoo.com, for the "unabridged" (3500+ words) review of this book!]
Rating:
Summary: The absolute WORST job of research in baseball literature!
Review: This "comprehensive exegesis of the history of batting theory" is completely worthless for research purposes because of countless egregious errors and misrepresentations. The reason for this is that the authors, Schmidt and Ellis, relied on fallacious presumption to construct the first two chapters (early 20th cen. hitting theory), rather than REAL instructional manuals, player bio- and autobiographies, newspaper articles, thousands of photos and motion pictures, etc. Evidence of this is that nothing earlier than Ted Williams' "Science of Hitting" (1970) is cited. Space limits me to refute but a few of Schmidt's myths, but important references to be consulted are as follows (symbols will be cited Tumultuous Life and Times," ('94) by Richard Bak; $"My War With Baseball," ('62) by Rogers Hornsby; %"Babe Ruth's Own Book of Baseball's Big Train," ('95) by Henry W. Thomas; /"Jimmie Foxx," ('96) by W. Harrison Daniel; &"Superstars of Baseball," ('94) by Bob Broeg; *"From Cobb To Catfish," ('75) by John Kuenster; +"Total Baseball," 4th ed. ('95); <"Lost Ballparks," ('92) by Lawrence Ritter; >"The Ballplayers," ('92); \"Strikeout," ('95) by William Curran; ~"The Physics of Baseball," ('93) by Robert Adair; and photos printed in ="The Conlon Collection (baseball cards)," ('91-'95) allegedly an "evolutionary ladder" of hitting theory, from Cobb ("Early Weight Shift") to Williams ("Rotation"), with "evolutionary ladder" is erroneous, because the story that Lau advanced his system from old-time players (see also p. 28) is a MYTH! More heavy the hitter had to throw his weight forward to lug, or carry, the heavy bat through the strike zone," comparing their motion to a javelin thrower. P. 21, "Bat speed" is "slow;" "Description" is "yank." P. 86, While comparing old-timers to FIVE-YEAR OLDS, Mike says, "...the old-timer[,] whose credits them as stupid pansies who swung ten-pound sticks!! Average, in lightest hitter ever, used 30 oz. bats! Cobb used 37-44 oz. bats.(#,p.98) He emphasized a SMOOTH, "automatic" stroke. (@, pp. 147-148) Ruth says, "A too heavy bat requires a jerk to start on it's way, and once underway requires additional effort to direct it's course...not so good. The ideal bat is one...that can be swung with the same EASY, SMOOTH motion with which you swing your arms." (%,pp.170-171) Guess who used the "heavier" bat? Ruth, (42-54 oz.) who hit more 500-ft. homers than anyone else! (Contact Bill Jenkinson regarding this.) Other examples are Sisler (38-42 oz.), Joe Jackson (48), Hornsby (36-39), Ken Williams (54), Hack Wilson (38-40), Foxx (37-42), Clemente (40-42), Dick Allen (40-42), McCovey (38), Stargell (38), etc., and now even Jose Canseco is using a 37-oz. bat. Anyone wanna claim "slow bat speed" for this group? Mike cannot say "heavy bat," because the term "heavy" is relative! Their bats obviously did not feel heavy to them, or they would motion caused restricted hip rotation, greatly reducing their power and bat speed. P. 24, "[For the Early W. Shift hitter] the front leg does not offer...resistance to the weight shift (citing TWO out-of-context photos of "Home Run" Baker as evidence)...if it did, sudden hip rotation Mike, all wrong! First, how does Schmidt think Baker got his nickname? Walter Johnson (who had faced Ruth, Cobb, and Jackson) called Baker "the most dangerous batter I ever faced." (^,p.125; #,p.83.) In Baker's prime years, 1910-1913, he smashed .385 off Johnson, with four homers, three triples, and six doubles, eye-popping numbers for the Dead-Ball Era. Second, the photo on p. 24 is NOT a picture of "bat-lugging!" It is a picture of Baker trying to check his swing after over-commiting! Watch any modern hitter when he is doing this, and he will look the same! The photo on p. 25 is just a photographer's pose, for crying out loud! Third, Cobb says, "As you stride, the hips and shoulders PIVOT forward on a level line and the arms come around in synchronization." (@,p.147) Ruth and Waner also wrote of its importance. (%,pp.153-154; &,p.487) Fourth, the below cited photos show the superb batting form--90 degree hip rotation, and all--of these early hitters! (= 5 , 7, 26, 40, 51, 62, 147, 170, 310, 426, 486, 519, 541, 565, 796, 1002, 1004, 1095, 1130, 1168, 1219, 1222, 1226, 1237, 1240, 1332, 1363, 1366, 1367, 1368, etc.; also see the excellent photos captioned, "The Cobb cut," #,p.39.) This review should clue the reader in to the unreliability of this book as a research tool. Bad show, Mike and Rob! [For anyone interested in more info regarding the errors therein, e-mail us at stradivarius7@yahoo.com, for the "unabridged" (3500+ words) review of this book!]
Rating:
Summary: Best Baseball Resource I've seen
Review: This is definately the best overall resource on hitting that I've come across. Mr. Schmidt is one of the few pro players who is willing to put time and energy into a project to help younger players. In a time where there are hitting manuals that can reach the price range of hundreds of dollars you can't go wrong with this one. It contains information that easily competes (if not surpasses) any other source out there and at a resonable price. The theory and techniques illustrated in this book would have took entire career to compile to this extent. I've read many, many baseball "How-to" books but this is simply the best in terms of the art of hitting and you wouldn't go wrong buying this one. Mr. Schmidt wasn't only the best third baseman of all time but was truly a student-of-the-game.
Rating:
Summary: Learn from the best
Review: With over thirty years experience in this great game, I think I learned a little about hitting. The most concise and clear examples and explanation of how to become a great hitter is in this book. It is extremely well written and gives all hitters the necessary tools to improve their performance. If you could only purchase one book on hitting, this would have to be the one!
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