Posted by: Louy Louy () on Wed Oct 15 05:55:05 2003

I've noticed that the better hitters in baseball stand more straight up. Griffey, Ted Williams, Sheffield, Sosa(bent legs, but his back is fairly straight up, like he's sitting on a chair), Shawn Green, Roberto Alomar, Ivan Rodriguez, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, ARod, Frank Thomas, Giambi, Palmeiro, Manny Ramirez, Jeter, Nomar, Mag Ordonez, Piazza, Olerud, Paul Molitor, Ripkin(sometimes), Bret Boone, Garret Anderson, Helton, Thome, Ichiro, Edgar Martinez, Juan Gonzalez, Carl Everett, Renteria, Vidro, Jaun Pierre, Lofton, Jim Edmonds, Chip Jones, Andrew Jones, Guererro, Jeff Kent, and the list goes on...Jackie Robinson. Why is this? Does the stance affect your swing in any way?

Doug,

A rotational swing requires that the body revolve around an axis. This axis is the spine. If you try to rotate around the spine while it is anything but straight up and down you will fall forward.

Louy Louy