Posted by: BHL (Knight1285@aol.com) on Sun Mar 7 01:30:27 2004

>>> Now you're stooping to the ridiculous. Tell me what force the stride puts on the bat. Can we talk about the stride? What force does loading put on the bat? None. It stretches muscles about to be used. Can we not talk about that?
>
> Are you running from a difficult subject??? That's not like you. <<<
>
> Hi Teacherman
>
> Maybe, I can offer you an example of how you could have addressed the stride question you posed. -- You could have stated:
>
> There is more to a good powerful swing than just sound mechanics. It takes timing and rhythm for all the mechanics that comprise the baseball swing to sync together for maximum efficiency. As if that were not difficult enough, a batter must also coordinate the rhythm of his swing to the timing of pitches with varying speeds.
>
> For many players, this is where the importance of a short timing step can not be over emphasized. Matching the timing of the soft stride movements to the rhythm of the pitcher’s delivery assists the batter in arriving at the optimum launch position for applying THT, CHP and BHT.
>
> However, Teacherman, I doubt that you would agree with the statement I gave, so why don’t you give it a whirl and shed some light on your version of the stride?
>
> P.S. I must admit that I have neither the time nor the inclination to dwell into kinesiology as deep as you have. If my novice opinion that ‘muscles are stretched in order to do work’ has offended you and others, then I offer my most humble apology.
>
> Jack Mankin
>
Dear Jack,

I am not here, as some might believe, to discredit your findings. However, I do wish to take you to task on some of your lower body cues.

Personally, I spent hours in the basement hitting my bag, and your cue, "rotate the heel, rotate the bat-head" just did not accelerate the bat in a circular path to my satisfaction. However, when I opened the front heel 45+ degrees, then dropped it while lifting and turning the back heel, turning the back knee down and in, and rotating the back hip around its axis, while thinking "rotate the bat-head, the acceleration increased threefold." In other words, I used Mike Epstein's lower body cues in lieu of yours, but did not edit out your rotate the bat-head cue. The mechanics really worked.

As a result, I am perplexed when I arouse the ire of disciples just because I share some cue taught by a former big league star. Therefore, I made sure to include a circular hand path in the cue. Overall, I think we all should realize that cues do not matter merely as much as the final product does.

Sincerely,
BHL
Knight1285@aol.com