Posted by: Scott W. (stwinton@netzero.net) on Tue Jun 27 10:50:22 2006

> >>> Jack,
>
> Your talking about 1st ballot hall of famers (Ruth, Williams, Mantle, Brett, Musial, Bonds, Pujols)…The FACT is, less then 2% of all MLB players will ever make it to the Hall, of the list you threw out there now were talking about the ultra ultra elite, amongst the elite…for every hitter you mention, there are probably 5 players actually IN the hall of fame that don’t come close to those guys (statically speaking).
>
> Hitting is hard… there’s a reason Barry and A-rod make millions, there are only a select few on the planet that can consistently achieve at this task…some might disagree with the a-rod suggestion. For every Barry and Mantel and Marris there is a hall of famer like Ray Schalk, a lifetime .253 who hit 11 HR’s 11 seasons! This guys in the HALL! How about these guys…Bat speed does not equill Hall of Fame...
>
> Roger Bresnahan, lifetime .279, 26 HR’s in 18 seasons
>
> Buck Ewing, .311, 71 HR’s in 15 seasons.
>
> Rick Ferrell , - hit .281. 18 years, 28 HR’s
>
> Ernie Lombardi, - 17-year career, .306, hit .300 or better 10 times. 16 years, 190 HR’s.
>
> Mickey Cochrane batted .320 during his 13-year career, 119 Hr’s.
>
> Eddie Collins played 25 seasons in the major leagues, 47 HR’s, .333 B.A.
>
> Johnny Evers, 18 years, .270 BA, 12 HR’s.
>
> Billy Herman, 15 seasons 47 HR’s, .304
>
> Bid McPhee, 17 season, 53 Hr’s, .281 BA.
>
> Rod Carew hit over .300 in 15 consecutive seasons, achieving a .328 B.A., 92 HR’s in 18 season, never more then 14, twice. <<<
>
> Hi Scott
>
> This has been a good discussion. The mission of this board is to give the reader different perspectives on a topic for them to form their own conclusions. I think we have accomplished that.
>
> Jack Mankin

Agreed about the discussion, I’d like to throw one more out there…

Your list of superstar hitters is impressive, and I agree to a certain extent that you should model yourself (your swing) after individuals that have accomplished what you want out of the game, but and this is a big one; there also needs to be a side where you are a realistic optimist about achieving your goal of being able to copy and emulate these kinds of hitters. The list you speak of in terms of all MLB players comes down to about 1/5 of the 2% of the players that actually get into the Hall of Fame!

Yesterday on the golf channel Dr. Gio Valiante talked about being a realist optimist…great stuff. The true optimist know their odds for success and is OK and confidant about it, the foolish optimist ignores the odd’s and counts on wishing and hard work. How does this pertain to the discussion… what are the odds that your average Joe can achieve the type of swing accomplished by the likes of Ruth, Mantel or Bonds? Are they a foolish optimist of realist optimist? 99% of MLB players can't do it, or put these types of numbers...

Are there mechanics for superstars and other, more basic, fundamental mechanics for the rest of us? Are the mechanics used by the most elite players to have ever played the game (0.25% of all the players that have played the game at the MLB Level) what we should be attempting to emulate…?