Posted by: kaytlyn kinnias (bratychick02@aol.com) on Tue Sep 24 09:35:45 2002

> Of course you wouldn't TEACH it (did I say that? I don't think
so.) But don't try to change a guy if he's comfortable (and doing
well.) Too many coaches try to put everyone in one "box." Grip
and stance are the two most over-coached aspects of hitting
(IMO.)
> >
> > BTW- a lot depends on whether you're talking about the top
or bottom hand- many power hitters grip with the top hand back
in the palm but at the base of the fingers with the bottom hand.
> >
> > Regards,
>
> >
> > SteveT
>
> Dog,
> Please don't take this the wrong way, but I get incredibly sick of
hearing people do what you're doing. They say,"well the majority
of the pro's do it this way", i.e. grip, and then they don't back it up
with some examples. I would just like to tell you that grip is one
of the things I pay attention to when I watch a baseball game, or
look at pictures, and I totaly disagree with you about your
comments. I see way more pro's resting the bat in their palms.
For example, Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth, Don Mattingly, Stan
Musial, Micky Mantle, Willy Mays, and Pete Rose. Today's
players include Alex Rodriguez, Edgar Martinez, Rafeal Palmero,
Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, Jeff Bagwell, Barry Bonds, Jim
Thome, Tony Gwynn, Nomar Garciapara, Greg Vaughn, and the
list goes on and on. Basically the majority of the great hitters in
the game hit with their bat in their palms. I can think of very few
that hold the bat your way. I know Albert Belle, and I believe
Derek Jeter, other than that, it's very slim compared to the list I
just gave out. I get sick of people coming out with these theory's.
I'd much rather follow the example the great hitters give, if it feels
comfortable to me, than to listen to some guy who thinks he
knows what he's talking about even though he's never been
there before. Why wouldn't you teach your kids to be modeled
after the greats. Again, I'm not trying to dog you at all, I'm just
trying to say that I feel we should quit making hitting so much
more detailed than it really is. Look at all the old guys. Your
Mays', your Williams', your Ruth's, etc. They didn't have all the
lectures and camps and so on and so on, it was just, "Hey let's
go play down at the sandlot," or something to that matter. They
did whatever felt right to them, and that was it. You even look at a
lot of today's hitters and how they dind't have all this confusing
technical talk, but they're still successful. I'm not saying that
nobody needs change or direction, because we all do. What I'm
saying is lets quit making it more complicated and topsey turvey
than it is, and take a hard look at the roots of baseball and model
ourselves after them, and the way they went about things. I think
we forget that today we don't have any Ruth's or Mantle's or
Williams, sure we have Griffey and McGuire, but they weren't
bogged down with all this confusing tech. talk either. It is so rare
that we see players that are just "raw talent", we seem to be
getting more and more mechanical, and it seems the averages
just go down. When I play, I see whole teams that bat the same
exact way, why? Baseball has become a mechanic frenzee, and
it's not making us any better because half the crap we get taught
is absolutely wrong, and completely different from what we see
the great players doing. Why don't we have the .400 hitters? You
tell me, and please don't say the pitching has gotten better,
because we don't have anybody with a 1.12 era either. It's just
something I think we should think about before we go any
further. In a nutshell, do what my favorite (Ted Williams) says,
"Try out those different things, and do what seems to work for
you," it's the way it worked for decades!
>
> Steve R
>
>
>