The best pure hitter I've seen in my lifetime has to be Rod Carew. He could flat stroke the ball where ever / whenever he wanted to.
A lot of people have mentioned Bo Jackson and I can remember seeing him in Cleveland in his rookie season playing for the Royals. He struck out first three time up to bat and looked pretty bad in the process, but you could just see the power in his swing as he whiffed pitch after pitch. After he struck out for the third time I leaned over to my friend I was at the game with and told him that if he ever connected the ball was going to travel a long way. The fourth time up he did connect, hitting a screaming line drive that the short stop jumped and just missed catching. The ball landed well over the left center field wall (in old Cleveland Municiple Stadium) and just missed making the bleachers (which was a heck of a poke). The short stop just missed catching it and neither the center or left fielders moved - just turned their heads and watched it go.
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