Posted by: Joe A. () on Thu Dec 13 15:22:04 2001

I believe the most important aspect of hitting is having a genuine passion for it. Kids need to be taught how to play fantasy games using a broomstick and gravel, or a broomstick and kernels of corn if they live in the city. When they can hit a kernel of corn out of sight 10 out of 10 times with a broomstick, they are not making a lot of mechanical errors. Mantle and Maris hit thousands of home runs over the river and into the trees in my home state of Virginia, while letting me swing for them when I was a kid. Funny thing though, the Yankees always beat the Dodgers.

Goody,

You seem to be sincer so I will comment on your remarks. Hitting a kernel of corn with a broomstick is not relevent to hitting a base ball.

First of all a broomstick is so light and the swing so "light" that the batter can make mid-swing adustments to make contact not possible with a much heavier bat and a fully commited swing used when hitting a base ball. The strength and momentum of the swing once it is started do not allow for much mid-swing adjustments. Also, a kernal of corn is too small and light to be thrown at a speed any where close to a baseball, though it looks fast becasue its small. Being slower it does not require the qucik reaction which would also prevent a batter from making mid swing adjustments.

These types of dirlls evolve from a false premis, that, if a little is good, more is better. This leads to thinking that if a kid is going to face 60 mph pitches at his level of play, some coach thinks its good to let him practice againist 70 or 80 mph pitching. Or, if you can hit a small kernel of corn, hitting a much bigger baseball will be easy.

They don't work becasue they do not reproduce real life situations and often require younger batter to have skills he may not have the age to develop yet. So many "experts" think that 15 year olds can do what 25 year olds do if they used the same methods. This is another silly idea that leads to all kids of stupid drills and who know what else.


For example, a younger kid may not have the strengh and the reflexes that come with strength, to hit a 70 mph pitch but may be able to do a good job on the pitches he will get at his level, say 55 or 60 mph. Do you think thats probably why they have age groupings for kids and 18 year olds don't play against 14 year olds? I don't know, just a thought. Maybe not.

Joe A.