Posted by: Joe Hernandez (coach2hit@yahoo.com) on Tue Jun 6 14:42:51 2006

Hi Guru,

Thanks for your input and "welcome". Yes the "Babe" was unique. The world of baseball was turned upside down, back in 1919, as fans were in total disbelief by the Babes revolutionary style of hitting. No one had ever seen a hitter turn on the ball and lift it in the air with the power that he did. Look at some of the old photos of the Babe hitting...he looks like he is "screwing" himself to the ground as his rear hip takes the place of where his front hip was and he ends up with so much rotation that his hips were facing foul territory. He was a true innovator...but less not forget that the babe "copied" Joe Jackson's (Shoeless) hitting style, he said so himself. The Babe considered Jackson the greatest hitter he had ever seen. He went on to say, " He's the guy who made me a hitter."

But it is difficult Guru, if not impossible or even unfair to try to compare hitters from different eras and say one group was better or worse than the other. You have to make judgments in the context of the historical times in which it took place. There are so many variables, many of which are not even talked about...like, lower and higher pitching mounds...modern hitters wearing protective gears, this can do wonders for your "mental mechanics" if you feel more relaxed because of less fear of getting hit...different ball construction and how weather affected it...how about the fact that outfielders played much deeper because there were NO FENCES. Imagine the gaps, so a hitter that could make contact with the ball was bound to be more successful...perhaps under those conditions, hitters that hit for power would have been nothing but "OUTS!" Worthless hitters, bums that needed to be sent back to the minors to learn how to "hit!"

So you see, it is all relative. Ted Williams said that when he and Ty Cobb talked about hitting, he felt Ty Cobb was talking Greek! Here are two great hitters that could not communicate to each other their hitting styles nor did one understand the other how he was successful with his own style.

There was a book published in 1925 titled "Batting" by F.C. Lane. It has hundreds of "expert" opinions from over three hundred players. From Ty to Ruth, Hornsby to Heilmann. Great quotes and insight into how some of the greatest ballplayers that ever lived saw the art and science of hitting. It was reissue in 2001...I highly recommend anyone to read it. You will appreciate hitting then as you do now with a totally new insight and respect. It is amazing to read what Babe Ruth thought about rotational mechanics...or to use his term "coiling".

Well, enough for now....take care!

Joe Hernandez

> Jose H. It is good to have your opinions and factual references to this sight. You brought up an interesting comment with regard to how Babe Ruth changed the game. But more important was how many players continued to hit the old way, namely Ty Cobb. And though Ruth was the best player of his time and perhaps of all time, it is a shame that a good portion of the league refused to try rotational methods. Not to take away from Ruth as no one really could, but when people compare Ruth to others they fail to recognize that a good portion of players were not attempting to hit homeruns. Another interesting point is the fact that hitting had to be a lot easier than it is today as evidenced by how many players in the earlier years hit better than .370. This is just not very common in today's game do to specialization of relief pitchers, overall fear of pitching to good hitters, and shifts that are now being employed more and more especially against lefthanded rotational hitters (Bonds, Giambi, Ortiz etc). The lifetime .340(+) averages for Ruth, Gehrig, Williams, would not exist in today's game.