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With contributions from Roger Angell, Bill James, Red Smith, and many others, this celebration of the home run is sure to be a grand slam for baseball fanseverywhere.

This spring has been rich with books about the home run, primarily because of the slugging feats of Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire. This book brings together some of the best writing about the home run from a variety of sources. Many of the excerpts will be familiar to baseball fans, as they have appeared in other publications, but this is still a refreshing collection with something for everyone. For this reviewer, highlights were the chapters on minor league hitters; the essay by noted baseball writer Bill James on one of baseball's more overlooked power hitters, Ralph Kiner; and a longer excerpt about Roger Maris, the single-season home run leader before Sosa and McGwire obliterated his record last year. Also of particular note is Emil Rothe's description of Babe Ruth's last big-league game. While this is certainly not a required purchase for all libraries, it will be a valuable addition to popular baseball collections and is therefore recommended for public and school libraries.AWilliam O. Scheeren, Hempfield Area H.S. Lib., Greensburg, PA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.