Posted by: RQL () on Wed Jun 27 18:51:15 2001

>>> jack.....roby made the following post, and then came you-know-who.....but i think the post merits your comments.....""Bonds is a student who never stops learning," says Jaramillo. Barry told Rick Sutcliffe that he's learned to keep his upper half still, generate the thrust in his lower half, then throw his hands at the ball as if he's hitting a nail with a hammer."............now, jack, i know you generally don't like the cue of "throwing your hands at the ball", and i don't either...but....i find it hard to argue with bonds....how about you?.....respectfully, grc...... <<<
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> Hi grc
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> I think Major Dan summed it up well with his post. -- Bonds has as perfect a circular hand-path as possible. If, "then throw his hands at the ball as if he's hitting a nail with a hammer," is a cue that works for him how can one argue with it, but is it a cue that would help others, I doubt it.
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> The same is true for Palmeiro, a frame-by-frame clearly shows a good circular hand-path and lead shoulder pull (the hook). Yet, you could not find a more linear statement than "clear out the front side so the hands can come through." --- I think they are just reciting the batting talking points taught in their era. Ted Williams tried to give a truer description of the swing -- remember what the baseball elite said about him.
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> Jack Mankin
> What we do and what we think is the essence of cues and I believe that if we think shoulder turn it is a slow thought but we start with the hip turn and hitters that get that part right and can cue on that can then unconsciouly use shoulder turn to varying degrees for different pitches and it comes with the sense of doing what is needed to get the fat part of the bat on the ball.The throwing of the hands I believe is simply what torque feels like to some hitters but their hand path is connected to the shoulder turn as we can see and their thought or phrase is throw the hands helping to be quick and speed up shoulder turn .The smaller muscles are quicker and if we can think of them but keep them connected to the larger muscles then the larger ones can be quicker when needed.I simply make this point of view becaue I had this same hitting thought and never realized the importance of the shoulders yet they showed up when it was time and I could speed up as needed and stay connected.It may not be for everyone and it may be old school in thinking but history is being made with it and we must remember what a cue is and what it is for.