Posted by: The Hitman (ahsnumber3@aol.com) on Thu Jul 4 13:45:53 2002

I went to the article at beabetter.com.In part the author said "a short swing must be a straight line from launch position (hit position) to contact point."
> > > > > >
> > > > > > This seems to conflict with a lot of the stuff at this site. The author is Rick down, hitting coach of the New York Yankees. How many times have they been World Champions the last several years?
> > > > >
> > > > > Valid question. Which Yankee hitters would you point to as examples of this straight line (linear) hitting? Must be at least several if the hitting coach is teaching this wouldn't you think? I have lots of good clips of rotational hitters but I can't seem to find clips of linear hitters so I look forward to your examples.
> > > >
> > > > You miss the point.
> > >
> > > Sorry. I'm getting older. Help me out. What did I miss?
> >
> > I understood your point to be "if the Yankees hitting coach says one thing and Jack says another, shouldn't we believe the Yankees hitting coach?" If this was not your point then, yes, I missed it. My point is, if the Yankees hitting coach is teaching this, and if it really works, then surely we can pick out several top Yankees who are doing this. I'm not saying you are right or wrong. I am, however, looking forward to seeing linear Yankee hitters on clips. Personally, I thought Jack, Tom and company were full of it when I first started reading about these ideas. Now that I have come across to the dark side (rotational hitting), if linear hitting is really the right way, I wish you or someone would 'splain it to me before I teach more kids the wrong thing. : )
> >
> > It just seems like when the rotational advocates talk about their theories they have clips to back it up along with a coherent unified, complete description of the swing that meshes with what the human body actually does and is. Now if I've been hoodwinked and bamboozled by these snake oil salesmen, then please, show me.
>
> You have clips, I have clips, the pros have clips.(Funny thing, though, you never SHOW your clips). But pros have something that apparently you do not have and that is BASEBALL EXPERIENCE. You see, there is a difference in looking at a clip and reading into it what you want it to look like, and in actually having been in the batters box. Again, outside of your small circle, who promotes your theories?
Hey Guys
Cues are funny. Many linear cues create better rotational mechanics. It seems like all pros are taught straight line to ball, but the result could yield a tighter circular hand path. Charley Lau has taught his hitters some linear cues and he has had them do some fence drills, but i would have to say his hitters have fared quite well. As Paul Nyman says"pulling the knob to the ball" could greatly help one hitter, but it could ruin another hitter.
The Hitman