Posted by: Hank () on Sat May 8 12:44:20 2004

Brian, I have mentioned many times on this message board that I feel that your Dad is a good teacher. My problem is not with him, as I enjoy reading many of his posts and agree with much of what he says. I never bring up pro ball unless someone with no pro background takes a pot shot at the pro guys. The only people who do that are people that did not play, and I feel it is out of jealousy. As far as taping and using slow motion and frame by frame, I have been doing that since I bought my first VCR in the eary 80's. How long have you been studying the swing? You don't have to be a rocket scientist to watch a swing and look for good and bad points in the swing. Mechanics are about half of the challange of hitting successfully. Learning how to hit is the other half. How to approach hitting is where the guy with 3000 AB's comes in. You don't have the experience to help a hitter with that part of the game, and tape won't get it done.
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> > > Doug
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> > Doug you are beating a dead horse. Jack's research was done based on FRAME BY FRAME analysis of thousands of swings.There are many coaches, even scouts who THINK they can look at even one cut a hitter takes and come up with things like "he has a long swing" and other cliches.And I know Brett, even Mac gave credit to Lau, but their swings did not match the teachings of Lau.Let me put it to you this way: whether you want to admit it or not, in the big leagues there are linear hitters (someone already mentioned Ichiro, Rose, Brett Butler, Carew) and there are rotational hitters. Look at their swings and look at their lack of power.Might I suggest that instead of you trying to convince Jack of your own preconceived notions, try having an open mind to the ideas of someone (Jack) who has already done the research.And don't tell me you have already done YOUR research, because if you have been studying the swiing since the 80's and yet you haven't realized there is a difference in Rose's swing and Bonds'swing, you may have to face the fact that your research has some flaws.I hope this post will be taken in the spirit of wanting to learn, and afterall, isn't that Jack's objective, for people to learn?
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> Hank, I appreciate your post, but I am not trying to convince Jack of anything. I have been in a conversation with his son. I agree that there are many scouts, coaches and computer nerds that don't study the swing. There are also many coaches at the pro level that do study the swing, and as technology has progressed, so have the coaches. My gripe is listening to non players act as if they are experts because they bought a tape and watched it and then bad mouthing pro coaches who they don't even know or know what they teach. My belief is that mechanics are about half of what makes a good hitter. The other parts are talent, lack of fear, genetics and experience. If you don't believe that, it is cool with me.
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> Doug

So, back to the credentials thin, huh?