Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatSpeed@aol.com) on Sat Oct 16 10:52:34 2004

>>> See Flagellum.] 1. An instrument for threshing or beating grain from the ear by hand, consisting of a wooden staff or handle, at the end of which a stouter and shorter pole or club, called a swipe, is so hung as to swing freely. <<<

Hi Manny & Hitter

Webster’s definition of “Flail” is basically the same as above – “A free-swinging stick tied to the end of a long handle.” Hitter points out that the principle in the baseball swing is the sequential rotation of the bat around an axis. -- "The bat rotates in a flail-like fashion around axes formed by the left shoulder and the batter's wrists"

Do you see a difference in the mechanical principle of a Flagellum and a bat swung with a “steering-wheel knob” attached at the handle? The lead-arm, “left shoulder to the batter's wrists,” would be the “long handle” and the bat would be the “stick.” The steering-wheel knob would allow the bat to “swing freely.”

Jack Mankin