Posted by: Bart () on Fri Sep 6 13:23:30 2002

Nick, I think the reason your original question got lost is that in reference to Williams’ book, you
took his statement “hands already past the plate, well in front” and added that “the bat is clearly
lagging.” But then you went on to equate “the bat is clearly lagging” with the commonly used term “lag position”. And that was one of my points: what is commonly called the “lag position” has an altogether different meaning from your statement “the bat is clearly lagging.”

Now to get to Williams’ book, the first thing I would like to say is that Williams is NOT a good hitter to model yourself after. I know that’s a mouthful considering that he was probably the greatest hitter to ever play the game. But if you look at the clips, you can clearly see flaws in his swing that most hitters today would not get away with.

And look at his book, the very pp. 38-39 you were referring to. On p38, final frame, it appears that this frame is shortly AFTER contact. Look at his arms and the “Power V” preached by so many coaches of yesteryear. I’m sure that Jack would look at this picture and conclude that he has no “L” in his top arm at contact.

I better quit writing. The more I write the more I sense that I have still not addressed your original question. Without having frame by frame clips to refer to, it's hard to put some of these ideas into words, and Williams's book is not an ideal book to refer to. Do you by any chance have the Louiseville Slugger book?