Funny Story on hitting.

[PEPPERS]

Mythical story:

Two coaches meeting at an off-season High School baseball conference had an interesting conversation. One coach mentioned to another that he had a rough time with the hitting on his team at the start. From top to bottom I have never had such a team with ridiculous batting habits; commented a proud coach. This was my best coaching ever. My team from top to bottom hit with a Paul Molitor short, compact swing, and they had the mentality and stance of Ted Williams. They could work the count with the best of them. Proud as can be that my team was one of the best hitting teams in the conference. We had a .295 average, and were right up there near the top of home runs.

They had there problems though, and were a tough nut to crack. Each boy had one or more real specific issues. Here was my lineup starting with my leadoff hitter

A kid named Rod Carew. This kid must have had 4 or 5 different stances at the plate. I never knew what I was going to see up there. He said he changed his stance depending on the type of pitcher. Tough nut to crack for me.

My two hitter was a kid named Ty Cobb. Actually held his hands nearly 6" apart from each other while he batted. He said he had more control of the bat. Won't mention the vulgar arguments we had.

My Three hitter was a kid named Stan Musial. You wouldn't believe his stance. He practically had his back to the pitcher. Looked like he was hiding the bat or something from him. Almost looked like he was playing peek A boo.

Four hitter was a big lumbering kid name Babe Ruth. His stance was ridiculous. Stood straight up at the plate with his feet nearly touching each other. When he swung he would practically lunge at the ball, then nearly fall down. He was my best work. He was third in our conference in home runs.

Fifth hitter was named Carl Yastremski. Held his bat extremely high. Nearly straight up. Then took a large crazy swing. Who comes up with this kind of stuff?

Six hitter was named Tony Oliva. Couldn't keep that boy from swinging at everything. I would tell him to work the count, and he would still swing at that first pitch.

Number seven hitter was a boy named Ken Griffey Junior. Long Swing. Looked like he was swinging a golf club or something up there.

Eight hitter was a Japanese boy named Ichiro Suzuki. Not sure what he learned in Japan, but he wouldn't have made it over here with that crazy unorthodox style. Reminds me a lot of my Rod Carew player.

Number nine hitter is a lad named Rickey Henderson. Crouched so low at the plate, and his feet were much too far apart. A player will never be able to hit without a nice balanced stance.

We had quite a few coaches tell us we were great. Many think they possibly all have a shot at the next level. I'm not so sure of that, but I sure made a team out of them last year.


Mickey Mantle once met Ted Williams at the All star game and had a conversation about batting. Ted asked Mickey what he did in this situation vs. that pitcher, and how he handled certain situations. He mentioned many of his tactics and asked Micky his. After this talk, Mickey figured he was going about hitting completely wrong and decided to take Ted's tactics to the plate. Mickey went on a huge 0-21 slump and realized he had to be his own type of hitter. Not all are the same, and shouldn't be.

Most coaches may feel that they could have made all of these players better with todays standard generic hitting tequnique. A few would have realized what they had, and made the most of them. The later would be coaching in the bigs.

Baseball Discussion Group - Baseball Discussion Group - Could Ty Cobb hit today

 

[straightleg]

Baseball Discussion Group - Baseball Discussion Group - Could Ty Cobb hit today

So much for the Hanson Principle...sorry Mark





SL

 

[softballphreak]

One approach would be to just leave them alone and see what shakes out. I'll stick with my approach.


Kind of funny, the grief I get when I use the Babe Ruth stance as a drill. It's a very good drill, in spite of the opinions I receive.

 

[JAD]

We always encourage our players to get private batting lessons from a professional instructor. A "one size fits all" approach to hitting is a recipe for disaster. Encourage your players to take private lessons, and to work with their parents or friends outside of practice to reinforce what they learned in their lesson. If things are working well, don't mess with them. If there are not working well, recommend they change hitting instructors!!!

 

[Wellphyt]

A good instructor knows the difference between style and technique. This article simply points out the obvious; which is that hitters have different styles and mental approaches.

Ending the article with this sentence tells you that the author doesn't know the difference between style and technique.
"Most coaches may feel that they could have made all of these players better with today's standard generic hitting technique."

The entire body of the article is about different styles and mental approaches...NOT ABOUT HITTING TECHNIQUE.

Every time a dad or coach tells me that there is no universal technique, I always ask them if they teach kids to hold the bat by the handle or the barrel. They of course always say...the handle. Every one I've ever met who teaches hitting has absolutes that they teach. Some understand the absolutes better than others.