Posted by: BatSpeed.com (support@batspeed.com) on Mon Apr 5 21:47:47 2004

Hi JJA:

There is no update. The status is the same. Your guess is as good as ours as to what's happened since Mankin accepted. Quite frankly, I don't care if the debate ever occurs between website owners because there are plenty of viewers who are very knowledgeable about the swing and continually ask good questions. The goal is to learn, educate, and have some fun discussing batting mechanics. Having a few discussion boards with varying viewpoints keeps us all on our toes and is healthy for everyone’s enlightenment. This can happen without websites battling it out on each others boards. Mankin has a policy of not posting on any other board. Needless to say though, Mankin will discuss batting with anyone on this board.

Further, I would venture to say that Mankin does not feel that there is a need to respond to any given comment because he prefers to debate the issues. As always, Mankin will keep the focus on batting mechanics and continue to define the batting mechanics used by the best professional hitters in the game. You must understand that mean-spirited comments from whatever source are nothing new. They have been leveraged from various places since Mankin opened BatSpeed.com, but he has always attempted to remain undeterred by the vitriol, as websites that engage in that conduct generally come and go. If anyone wants to discuss batting mechanics in a civil and rational manner, we have an open discussion board for that purpose. Mankin will always discuss mechanics with anyone who is interested, regardless of their claimed knowledge or level of experience.

I will note that there are many individuals who are trying to define the batting mechanics used by the best professional hitters. Mankin defined those batting mechanics over 10 years ago and has had virtually no deviation in those teachings. When other viewers or websites state different views, then a good discussion can occur. But when a new set of terms comes along that closely mimics the mechanics that Mankin has defined, it is fair to ask how that new term causes the bat to react. Equally important is whether the new term causes the bat to react differently than the set of terms previously defined. These are simple questions, and while the responses are sometimes creative, they are often not straight forward. This will continue to be a driving question in the batting mechanics discussion, and for those defining new terms, it should be a welcome question so that they can enlighten the baseball community on their findings. Unfortunately, it is often not a welcome question, as you have seen.

We do not want this thread to degenerate in a war between posters or websites. Again, it is our belief that it is best for baseball and the viewers if the baseball websites (or at least this website) keeps the focus on the principles of batting mechanics. Plenty of good discussions can occur within this realm. For this reason and because it is not discussing batting mechanics, we request that no further posts be made to this thread. Please email us with any questions.

Brian
BatSpeed.com