Someone once asked Babe Ruth how he came to hit so many home runs. The Babe grinned and replied, "Because I don't like to run out singles." This season, two other sluggers who hate singles are swinging for the fences: Oakland's Reggie Jackson and Washington's Frank Howard. One out of every four hits that Ruth produced during his 21-year career was a home run; Jackson and Howard have been walloping them at the rate of one in every three.
Against California last week, the lefthanded Jackson hit his 36th home run of the year as the A's won 3-2. Earlier in the week, Howard, a righthanded hitter noted for his tremendous strength and towering blasts, lashed his 34th in a game that the Senators dropped 4-3 to Detroit. Both men are at least two weeks ahead of the pace set by Ruth and Roger Maris in the years of their record performances (60 in 155 games for Ruth in 1927; 61 over an expanded 163-game schedule for Maris in 1961). Both were solid American League choices for this week's All-Star game.
Diamond Over Gridiron. Son of a Wyncote, Pa., tailor, Jackson, now 23, starred in both football and baseball in high school and won a scholarship to Arizona State, perhaps the only college in the country that prizes the diamond over the gridiron. In his sophomore year he hit 15 home runs and batted .327. He was drafted by the A's and signed for an estimated $85,000.
After only two years of minor-league seasoning, Jackson was called up by the A's in 1968. At 6 ft. 2 in., 197 Ibs., the rookie rightfielder did not look like an overpowering slugger. Yet in a season dominated by superlative pitching, he hit 29 home runs. He also struck out 171 times—the second-highest total in major-league history. On top of that, he led American League outfielders in errors with twelve. "I took the bat with me to the outfield," Jackson explains. "When I did poorly at the plate, I used to brood about it out there."
Biggest and Strongest. This year, Jackson's fielding is much slicker, and his strikeout rate is down by 25%. He has also switched from a 33-oz. to a 37-oz. bat, and the results have been awesome. One of his homers cleared the left centerfield fence in Kansas City, 480 ft. from home plate and nearly 80 ft. up. "They say it went 600 and change," says Jackson. He batted in ten runs in a game with Boston. During a recent game in Oakland, he belted three home runs against Seattle pitchers. After he cracked two home runs in a single game in Washington, Jackson received a telegram from a local fan: "Although I always root for the home team, I have nothing but the highest admiration for your performance the night I saw you. Sincerely, Richard Nixon."