Posted by: dougdinger () on Wed Jul 28 21:35:17 2004

This may sound a little crazy but if you try it it you will realize its usefullness.....On EA sports MVP baseball 2004 for playstation 2 , all of the players in the game have the trademark swings of their own professional aliases. If you play a game with the reds and say Ken Griffey Jr. approaches the plate, after one swing you can go to replay mode and view the perfect mechanics of his swing from every angle possible at whatever speed you please (you will notice the THT as well). The same goes with sosa, giambi, babe ruth, lou gehrig........everyone!!!!
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> Heres the drill......
> When in replay mode, grasp the game controller as you would with a bat using the pressure sensitive X button as your speed control (the harder you push down the faster the replay, and vice versa). Stand in front of your television, and swing corresponding to the batter and the view and you will know exactly what i am babbling on about.
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> I find this very valuable because my swing/stance is almost identical to Griffeys. So anyways for the past few months, i have used this as a type of training for my swing and i have noticed big improvements in my overall swing mechanics and hitting consistancy. also I am a pitcher and the game reveals perfect pitching mechanics as well. (you can use the same drill as i mentioned above, but in the pitching motion)(from all angles!!). I honestly feel that i am a better ballplayer because of this. I can almost guarantee anyone that if they check this out, it can help them with lots of questions and problems they may have in their swing and improve their game. See for yourself!!!
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> Stevo
I just got that game for gamecube and was thinking the same thing. Everyone (except Ichiro's , love how they did that one exactly how Ichiro does it) has a perfect swing, well almost perfect. The upperbody is perfectly perpendicular to the ground when there should be a slight tilt backward, and the front knee is always bent, even in the followthrough, there should be a stiff front leg. And I don't see any pre-launch torque, but I do see the THT, and the circular hand-path is very evident on the replays from above the hitters. Just a thought. And yes when I was watching a replay after I got a hit, I noticed something in that computer game player's swing that I wasn't doing, getting into a good launch position.
Yes you can learn things from video games, especially when it's a very realistic game like this one, just as long as you practice when you notice something. I got in front of the mirror right away when I made my discovery.
Very neat game. Thome points his bat when he first steps in the box, Ichiro has a running start to first, Griffey has his big inward shoulder turn, Sierra has his huge leg kick, Pujols has his back elbow go way up in his launch, Piazza wiggles his bat forward when getting into his launch, too bad they didn't have Bonds instead of that Jon Dowd white dude, who happens to be the same height and weight, same body type, same high contact and power ratings, same position, and hits everything to RF. Why couldn't they have made a black guy who hits left-handed and call him Harry Bonns or something?
I just don't like watching Johnny Damon and Luis Castillo hit cuase they have the same sweet power swing like everyone else.