Posted by: mike miles (mmiles1953@yahoo.com) on Sun Sep 26 19:25:00 2010

Dear Jack:

After some six years of hitting in the final arc system I plan to teach the Mankin system to a bunch of 10-11 year olds this coming spring. I will teach my team in groups of 4 indoors in one hour sessions. I will use a karate bag and a Mauerer quick swing to start the process.

Just some thoughts. Beginning of keeping the front arm to the chest and not shifting the clutch. I recommend on the foot work that it is first done barefoot. Young ball players can better watch the coach place his front foot and also the lifting of the back foot as it turns. More important young ball players get the feel of how the feet are to operate.

The Maurer "quick swing" is a good thing to use when accessing the arms and feet. Once the ball is put in the tube the coach can then watch either the feet or arms when the batter swings.

Jack take a look at the Joe Maurer "quick swing" for its essential is teaching the Mankin system as is the basic T and the large bag (Karate dummy) etc.

What is fundamentally wrong with baseball today is coaches will spend hours on fielding grounders and hi flys and running situations and only seconds on hitting in comparison.

I use the t-and quick swing to teach the turning the front shoulder into the ball and pulling the top hand into the arm pit and then straight out and then whipping the hips around.

I have seen over the last several years some people criticizing you over semantics and physics. If they would spend hours hitting hundred and thousands of balls off a T and followed your mechanics like I did they would understand how the final arch works.

I now have after six years of studing the Mankin system have the courage to teach rotational hitting to a youth team. For the last five years I have been teaching my daughter who is has now just turned 11 and her two sisters ages 4 and six.

Jack have you read Money Ball or The Last Nine Innings.

Do you still have my phone number?

Mike E. Miles
Medford, Oregon