Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Wed May 1 11:15:47 2002

jack has made a distinction between "throwing the hands at the ball" and "throwing the bathead at the ball"....however, from what i remember he did not elaborate...i have my own ideas of why/how there is a significant distinction but i would appreciate your ideas....
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Of course,a cue is just a cue and open to many interpretations,so any cue could work or not work.What should be accomplished,among other things is maintenance of the circular handpath to enable efficient "transfer mechanics." If the circular handpath straightens or extends,we know from the old steering wheel knob demonstration that transfer of energy from the body is shut down.That is a serious problem for any hitter.

The "throw the hands cue" seems to me to promote premature extension of the hands with loss of the circular handpath.The "throw the bathead" cue is less likely to do this.I don't like this cue much either.Throwing is a one sided thing.There is a similarity in that in both throwing and hitting you need to wait for torso turn to get the batgoing/arm laying back before the back arm("L" coming out of elbow)/throwing arm gets active.The feel of the bathead coming out is an important one,but way before I would get the feel of throwing,the bat starts pulling you as energy is transferred from the body.

The time in the swing where you can feel the top hand being active is at or just before launch with application of tht,but this doesn't feel like throwing to me.More like slinging or pulling or even pushing(if you reverse the top hand position as in the Lau "open top hand" drill or as Jack does in his golf club demonstration prefer to emphasize).Having a relaxed top hand grip and "getting the hands flat fast" can also work.Epstein has heard "scoop hand with the top hand."

I like the connected torso-arm feel,then pulling back with the bottom hand/lean back/head back with the inside stuff and good"extension"(not quitting or giving up on the swing) but with tight front upper arm connection/pressure for the outside.Shawn might say "dog hitting end of leash."

With respect to the circular handpath,sometimes "hit the inside of the ball" is useful even though this cue is very different from reality.It can help avoid the dead pull hook foul evn though you are still in reality hitting the outside of the ball.It works for some to keep the hand path from extending or not pulling in enough.As rql said,you have to know what detail you are working on and why.If the cue communicates this and you get good results,fine.Same with the dreaded fence drill-usually interpreted poorly with poor outcome for the hitter,but not always.

Don't start taking your cues concretely or reality will suffer.