Ted Williams' Hit List: The Ultimate Ranking of Baseball's Greatest Hitters

This is not a book on the art, the technique of successful hitting. It's a book about results - the numbers compiled and compared. The book is centered around Ted's Top 25 - sans Splinter. (In "my book" he's second to another guy who got his start in Boston). It's very refreshing that this is a collaboration, with Jim Prime, yet the writing is expressive of the great personality of Ted. In your mind you can hear his voice as he discusses his choices. I was fascinated to read such details as home ballpark dimensions in a player's career; to note that (it seems) the "livelier" the ball, the more "they brought the fences in". The language is all Baseball throughout the statistical analysis. This work causes one to reflect on today's sluggers/hitters and who might make such a list a little down the road. But I doubt that it could be as compelling as told by someone other than Williams. (And that statement is from a Yankee fan!). Recommended!

Ted's pick of the Babe as the Top all time Hitter is right on the mark. However, Joe Jackson in the Top 10 seems a stretch, and Ted seems to overlook many of the more modern players, after his time. Still, the writing is fine, witty, and humorous, and it's hard to dispute the man who is probably the #2 hitter of them all, (after the Babe). A great book , and amusing as well!...PS- Ted modestly does not include himself!

You may or may not agree with the Splinter's hitters list (Dante Bichette?!?) but it is an interesting read. Ted himself was the best overall and lost too many years to two wars. As opinionated as the man himself and a good analysis without getting too wrapped up in convoluted statistics.

Despite Ted Williams' personal choice of Babe Ruth as the greatest hitter of all time, followed by Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, and Rogers Hornsby, this reviewer will never be convinced that Williams is anything but the greatest himself. Although I agree with the placement of almost all of his picks, though I do question Chuck Klein's inclusion in this list instead of such notables as Napoleon Lajoie and Honus Wagner, Williams falls short in making the argument that baseball must be looked on as a continuum so that all statistics should be looked at as comparable. With this argument, the gaudy averages and totals of the mid and late 1920s and 1930s will always come out on top, and, hence, Ruth, Gehrig, Foxx, and Hornsby will too. Al Simmons will also be given a ranking. With due respect to these players, who do deserve their reputations as all-time greats, in my opinion, league dominance should be rated more highly than sheer numbers. With this rating, players like Wagner and Lajoie would hold a greater chance of making this list, despite poor power numbers in comparison to later-day players. Other than this problem with his argument, fans of baseball and baseball statistics should be able to relax and enjoy Williams' _Hit List_ before adding it to their arsenal in the on-going battle of who was the greatest hitter ever.