Posted by: george stanley (saint_george13@yahoo.com) on Sat Dec 15 23:15:39 2007

> Hi George
>
> Hope you don’t mind my poking a little fun at you, but the clip below illustrates the image I get of you writing a post.
>
> <a href="http://www.irwincorey.org/SecondEnding.mov">George</a –
>
>
> Jack Mankin

hi jack!

really funny, but not for the reason you think..THAT IS PRECISELY THE PRIMARY ILLUSTRATION I USE TO MAKE HITTERS UNDERSTAND IT IS REQUIRED THAT THEY MUST BE ON TIME OR FAIL !!!!...

to illustrate to a hitter the importance of timing, & show him he has only a sharply defined amount of time to get the bat to the ball, i say:

EXAMPLE 1.suppose you are a violin player in an 85 piece orchestra...when the conductor raises the baton, & gives you the downbeat... YOU GOTTA GOTTA GOTTA BE THERE!!! THIS IS NOT NEGOTIABLE !!!.. NO EXCUSES!!! EITHER YOU ARE ON TIME OR YOU ARE NOT!! if you are one tenth of a second late, the conductor stops the whole orchestra & gives you that "pull-your-head-out-of-your-ass" look. DO IT AGAIN & YOU'LL BE SITTING IN THE AUDIENCE REAL SOON..

POINT: you only have a finite amount of time to get the bat to the ball when it is in its optimum point to be struck..IT IS NOT NEGOTIABLE.. EITHER YOUR ON TIME OR YOU ARE NOT...IF YOU ARE NOT THERE WHEN YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE, YOU WILL BE LATE & POP UP, FOUL OFF OR MISS COMPLETELY DEPENDING ON YOUR DEGREE OF TARDINESS..

EXAMPLE 2.the train is leaving the station at high noon... if you get there at 12:01, you will miss the train...

POINT: the ball will not wait on you if you are late.. you must do everything in your power to eliminate any actions which will make you late to the ball.

3rd example:
you are the commanding officer at a missile base.. your job is to shoot down any missiles that are shot at you... you're in the control room.. the radar officer sez, "sir a missle has been fired, & it is coming directly at our position." you turn to the weapons officer, & say "plot a track on the incoming missile & fire when you have a lock".. the weapons officer sez. "uh, sir the missiles are neither fueled nor armed at this time".. you say, "well then, fuel & arm the missiles".. the weapons officer sez, "uh sir, by the time we get the missiles fueled & armed, the incoming missile will have already struck our position... so basically we are already dead." you say "HUH?!?!"... then pull out your sidearm & shoot the weapons officer in the head..

POINT: at a missile base, the weapons are ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS fueled, armed & locked in the "ready-to-fire" position at a moment's notice... a hitter has far less notice when it come to hitting a 90MPH FB.. therefore you TOO must be in the "ready-to-fire" launch position... YOU MUST ELIMINATE PRACTICE OF LOADING OR ARMING THE WEAPON ONCE THE MISSILE IS ON ITS WAY... TO DO SO WILL MAKE YOU LATE.. & ALREADY DEAD BEFORE YOU EVEN FIRE.... on FAR too many occasions..

now that i have illustrated how your example is a very good tool for making hitters understand they must concern themselves first & foremost with their ability to be on time... don't you feel a little silly?

i endorse fun-poking... humor is the fuel of a happy life.. i encourage & welcome it.. unlike some of the "everything-is-all-right-with-MLB-hitters-&-they-cannot-possibly-do-any-wrong-or-improve-in-any-way-&-how-dare-you-even-THINK-of-criticizing-these-gods-on-earth-YOU-MUST-BE-NUTS-&-I'M PRETTY-DAMNED ANGRY-AT-YOUR-INSOLENCE" choir on this site all singing the same tune in the same key.. perfectly timed... well, at least they got the WHINING part perfectly timed.. now all they have to do is apply that mindset to adjusting their too wide, too open stances, & eliminate the "buggywhipping" actions that invariably guarantee they will be late far more often than anything else...true the HR count will go down, but the BA & performance success rate longevity will go up..
good luck to all with that!!