Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Fri Oct 4 08:57:11 2002

I think this is yet another term that means different things to different people. It dawned on me today that actually the term does have some useful meaning if understood properly. It has to do with Nyman's top hand "rabbit punch", except that knob to the ball would be more accurate.
>
> Knob to the ball, if incorporated very early in the swing (like at toe touch) will enhance elbow-in-the-slot and for that matter it will facilitate the technique that I think you all refer to as top hand torque.

The devil really is in the details of how the "cue" gets interpreted/implemented.My impression is that,as far as high level baseball hitting is concerned,Jack,Paul Nyman,Mike Epstein,Lau Jr are all decsribing the same basic swing mechanics,but with different depths of understanding-different words at different points along the cue/reality spectrum.

One of Jack's major contributions has been the description of how hand path varies for different locations as well as how this must get set up early in the swing.How exactly to teach this/how this exactly happens without dragging the bat and degrading the swing is still somewhat of a mystery to me(input welcome).

Lau Jr(LAU'S LAWS ON HITTING) is big on the "pull the knob to the ball" cue as well as instructions on how to adjust inside out.Inside-rotate more by transferring weight more against a firm front leg/front knee straightening sooner to promote rotation.He prefers making most things middle/out by being more off the plate,accentuating "knob to ball" and a more pronounced weight shift TO the front leg,front knee straightening later.Lau seems unaware of the importance of the actual shape of the handpath or the fact that the interpretation of these cues should help create the appropriate handpath shape as described by Jack-hooking handpath more for inside/circular handpath for middle,some late extension for outside as "L" comes out of back arm after a higher load/longer radius handpath is set up at launch.

In any case,don't take the knob to the ball with the arms,rather with the hands and torso turn(yet another "cue" !).Avoid premature extension.Keep the handpath circular as launch proceeds.Don't confuse yourself or the student with incompatible cue/interpretation.