Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Thu Nov 8 10:28:21 2007

>>> The Pete Rose clip in my view does illustrate the linear portion of his bat path. About 8 frames before and about 4 frames after contact was made (as I described in my previous post). Do you disagree with this? <<<

Hi Jimmy

Yes, I disagree with your observation. In fact, the area of the swing you describe (frames just before and after contact) is the area where the “hook” in the path of the knob (and bottom-hand) occurs. By “hook,” we mean that portion of the knob’s path where it reaches its maximum forward direction (toward the pitcher) and the bottom-hand starts pulling it rearward. Since the bat-head is arcing around the knob, the meat of the bat must maintain a circular path through the zone.

I understand this is hard to visualize from the written word. In a couple days I will post a markup of the clip that should help. The clip will also address the fallacy of teaching batters to extend the hands to contact.

Jack Mankin