Posted by: The Hitting Guru () on Tue Jun 20 15:25:07 2006

> Here's a video of Mantles swing. He shows alot of Linear movement.
>
> http://imageevent.com/siggy/hitting/pro?p=33&n=25&m=12&c=4&l=0&w=4&s=0&z=9
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Scott. Good Observation. I noticed the linear movement as well. In that footage Mantle never got to his typical launch position. He merely drags his bat to the ball. Also his entire back side moves forward (off the ground) which accentuates the linear start. This was probably not one of his longer homeruns. Perhaps he was struggling at the time and tried something different. This just goes to show that even the great hitters deviate from their mechanics.