The Louisville Slugger Ultimate Book of Hitting

Rating:
Summary: Great Book To Learn From
Review: I would first like to say that this book is a great book to learn hitting from. It covers the styles of hitting and the mechanics of each style. My stats improved in all my categories after using this books techniques. My average went up, i went from hitting one homer the previous year to hitting eleven home runs the next year! This book is great!

Rating:
Summary: Don't trust the cover!!!
Review: Instead of providing extensive hitting advice from players past and present as advertised, this book actually concentrates almost solely on the advice of modern instructors. NOBODY before Ted Williams is quoted extensively. The advice of some of baseball's greatest hitters (Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Rogers Hornsby, etc.) is condescendingly limited to a line or two of very general comments. Louisville Slugger could've reprinted the article "The Science of Batting" that Ty Cobb wrote for their 1944 "Famous Sluggers Yearbook," [reprinted in "Ty Cobb: His Tumultuous Life and Times," by Richard Bak (1994)] but they don't. This is largely due to the fact that early 20th century batting techniques are now considered by so-called experts (like Mike Schmidt) to be primitive and obsolete (a biased and incorrect belief). As evidence of their blind prejudice, page 107 shows complete lack of research. To depict Ty Cobb's hitting style to be obsolete, they explain that the reason he could still hit .367 with his "primitive" style was because "...outfielders played DEEPER in those days because THERE WERE NO FENCES. Thus, the gaps for Cobb to slap or punch the ball into were large and many..." (emphasis mine.) THIS IS THE ONLY BOOK I HAVE EVER SEEN THAT MAKES THIS LUDICROUS CLAIM. The fenced-in ballpark was actually introduced in 1862, 24 years before Cobb was born!!! The book "Green Cathedrals" by Philip J. Lowry (among thousands of others) proves the presence of fences in Cobb's day. Similarly, thousands of old photographs, many reprinted in baseball history books, prove that outfielders played MUCH SHALLOWER then, too. Now, how can you respect--let alone trust--a book that makes claims like THAT??!!!

Rating:
Summary: Greatest book on hitting in the world
Review: This book delivers it all.It amazed me how indepth this book was on hitting.In addition to the many hitting styles, this book has a whole lot of tips from many all-star baseball players. This book also has drills to improve your hitting and it tells you how to pick up and hit other pitches.I would recommend this book to anyone who is serous about improving their hitting skills.This book is really the ultimate!