famous open batting stances

Ed Delahanty, one of the best hitters of the late 19th century, held the bat high and off his back shoulder while spreading his legs wider than most hitters (later Hank Aaron’s stance would be compared to his). Bagwell’s stance has been described as a man sitting in a chair waiting for his dinner. When he retired he ranked first in NL history in homers and third only to Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx all-time. Aaron Rowand used what became called “The Drunk” — he stood with his legs extremely far apart and leaned back and to the side awkwardly, looking like he was going to tip over. My favorite Batista incarnation was when he was a Montreal Expo. Open Batting Stance. Only one of those things was unusual. Juan Gone was a good representation of how the Hulk might have stood if he played baseball. When the Georgia Peach saw a pitch he liked, he would move either his top hand down (to hit for more power) or slide the bottom hand up (to choke on the bat). It’s their one moment to stand apart from the team and strut. He swung at so many first pitches because it was exhausting to keep that whole routine going. Baseball Almanac is pleased to present a comprehensive chart of ballplayer batting stances. 1. Carew had one of the most unconventional batting stances the game has ever seen, specifically because of the way he held his bat. As a result of rules that favored the batter, hitters didn’t worry about having to make contact. Most of them stood erect in the box and faced the pitcher with both eyes and held their bats near where they wanted a pitch to be placed. In many ways it was a knee-jerk reaction by a front office trying to win a World Series. You gotta have your own swag. 4 Craig Counsell He hunched himself down into a “C” in the batters’ box from the left side, with his head peering over his front shoulder, almost Musial-like. By the time his book “The Art of Hitting .300” was published in 1980, Charley Lau had cultivated a cult following that adopted his strategies on hitting a baseball. He stepped into the batters’ box for the first time when he was only 17 years old, and he took his last swings when he was 38. No superstar changed his batting stance as much or as dramatically as Cal Ripken Jr. Going the other way a long way from home, it's only fitting that the player filling the lowest numerical spot in at also has the lowest stance plants exaggerated crouch almost seems too strange to be real, but it was it didn't stop him from slugging Ninety-one home runs over eight seasons in the majors. When he swung the bat, Ty’s hands were together. he's always had one of the more unique stances at the plate fielder lays into one deep right center field. Also, let’s clarify something: Cobb did not swing the bat with the split-grip. 38,704 posts, read 93,244,659 times Reputation: 29740. Movies were in their infancy when the Great Bambino stepped on stage as a raw rookie in 1914. But can anyone tell you what his batting stance was like? He drove Met fans crazy, and that is always deserving of being on a list. He was a beast in the post-season. But we do have a sprinkling of videos of the Babe in his stance, and it was unique to the great slugger. It was a stance made even more famous when Cal Ripken tried it out, but Tettleton was the player who made lazy bat handling famous. Joe Morgan was famous for his “flap” where he flexed his rear left elbow as the pitch was being delivered. Dude’s a career .255 hitter who hit a whopping 42 home runs in 16-year career. Good or Bad “That setup is OK, but make sure you step back into the right spot.” Many players switch to the wide open stance, thinking that will help them. He just looked eternally bored out there like some MLB Eeyore. He hit four more home runs in the World Series, helping the Giants to a title in 1933 when he clubbed a pair of homers and had seven hits in five games in the Fall Classic. Mostly though, players did not have the talent to emulate Babe’s power hitting, and after some of them tried and were unable to see great returns, they quickly abandoned it. 34 of the best batting stances in baseball history. Batting stances are unique to each hitter. He remains one of the greatest right fielders to ever play the game. This was the stance Yaz used in 1967 when he won the Triple Crown while leading the Red Sox to the pennant. It was the fourth time he’d hit over .400 in six years. Here is where they whip out their personal stamp on the game. Downing had one of the most open batting stances in modern baseball, and it was largely effective, especially for the Angels in the 1980s. In 1951 the St. Louis Browns took the tiny batting stance to the extreme when they sent midget Eddie Gaedel to the plate as a pinch-hitter in a game against the Detroit Tigers. Oh never played in the U.S., his only cracks at big league pitching came in exhibition home run derbies against Hank Aaron, but in 2001, batting star Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese position player to sign a contract in Major League Baseball. Gaedel was only 43 inches tall and he had no intention of swinging his (plastic) bat. It wasn’t until the 1890s that individualized batting stances became common, after the pitcher was allowed to throw from a uniform elevated mound. But there’s another reason Bagwell was included on a list of players the Astros could choose from: his peculiar batting stance. It was probably a natural physical response to a pitch coming in at high speeds, an attempt to accentuate a weight shift. Ichiro quickly proved he was worthy, winning the MVP and Rookie of the Year awards. In a way, like snowflakes, no two are exactly the same. The 21-year old debuted with the Cardinals in 1941, and he quickly made a big impact from the left side of the plate. Seattle Mariners news from FanSided Daily, Brian Orakpo: I’m Going To Rip It Up This Year, Jose Calderon: Mavs Don’t Need A Star Center, Velcro straps on his gloves were pulled and retightened, waggled the bat so hard it danced in front of his helmet lip, MLB Opening Day: 1 reason every team could win the World Series, Blue Jays' Chris Colabello Refuses to Do 8-Pound Mac & Cheese Challenge for $15K, The Cleveland Indians are selling a hot dog with Fruit Loops and mac 'n' cheese (Photo), Mets' Matt Harvey upset with media coverage of bladder infection. It’s hard to imagine now, more than seven decades after his first major league game, but Stan Musial’s batting stance was revolutionary for his time. The bat floated above to add height. Among the many stances that are used for batting in baseball, the square stance is the most commonly used stance. Not by big leaguers, but by players at all levels. His giant arms hung over the plate as if to warn off pitchers. Realizing the importance of these tactics, and aware that he was not physically gifted enough to do them strictly through athletic prowess, in 1962 Lau started using a batting stance that was designed to help him get the bat into the hitting zone quicker. He had a slightly closed stance, but not much. The A’s tried him for a year until they too got rid of his “crazy ideas.”. A video from the 1932 World Series shows Ruth moving his hands so that the bat seems to be turning, as if he was churning butter. He was a competent player, but his batting stance left you worried he’d taken too many Ambien the night before. How to Play. His swing perfectly matched the bizarre vibe at that aging stadium. The batting stance has long been the Cadillac of the player’s repertoire. There were players who liked to shake the bat a lot, like Gary Sheffield and Vlad Guerrero. “Bags” fooled his detractors, winning the Rookie of the Year Award in 1991, and an MVP award three years later. It was rare for photographers of that era to take photos of players in their normal stances. When the pitch arrived, he’d pull his arms into hitting position and uncoil his body as he stepped into the baseball. Batista, a… He stood with his feet close together so he could quickly shuffle them into either direction depending on where he wanted to hit the ball. The batting stance, as far as choosing an open or closed position goes, there are pros and cons for each. Your email address will not be published. The body twitching was just an opening act for his glove work. Rickey Henderson developed his batting stance independent of any outside influence. She is getting more distance and more balls are hit flush. May 25, 2013; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; New York Yankees right fielder Ichiro Suzuki (31) at bat against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. As the pitcher started his delivery, the left-handed batter would lift his left lead leg off the ground (about eight to twelve inches), then as he swung through the ball his front foot would come back to earth. In 1990 the Red Sox were trying to win the division title and needed bullpen help. But as the 60’s began to morph into the 1970s, Rose started to clench his stance into a new form, making himself smaller and smaller. Anyone who has ever stood in the box to hit in professional baseball has had a batting stance, but most of them have been forgettable. Build your custom FanSided Daily email newsletter with news and analysis on Seattle Mariners and all your favorite sports teams, TV shows, and more. Counsell was a middle infielder for 16 years in the National League and he was named MVP of the 2001 NLCS while with the Diamondbacks. The weirdness in batting stances has exploded since the age of Wockenfuss and other random oddballs. (How refreshing). And yes, Mo Vaughn, Plantier and Sosa are stretches for "80's".http://www.battingstanceguy.com As a result, Rickey walked 2,190 times, setting a record (later topped by Barry Bonds). The open stance shown on the left is good if you find yourself stepping in the "bucket" when a pitch is thrown. Unit number thirty plan high fly ball deep left field that ball is way back home run. The majority of hitters (including most pros), need to have a smaller stance and use it to create some weight transfer with their body in order to put a good amount of force into the ball. He was taking an extremely difficult job and making it harder. The batter deserved no credit for it. While some historians have made a big deal out of Cobb holding his hands a few inches apart on the bat handle, it was not unusual. The 1960s would be about individualism. Ben Liebman is a writer for FanSided partner BroJackson.com. For a while no one kept track of them. His body looked like a question mark retreating from the mound, coiled and ready to explode into the pitch. Of course the Hulk eventually changes back into a normal man, but Juan had until his next cycle ran out before that was a problem. Part Broadway dance routine and part long lost tribal dance, the batting stance is a highly personal beast. Wockenfuss hit 86 home runs as a part-time player in his 12-year career, finding exceptional success against lefties. He writes for several websites from his home near Lake Michigan. He made sure to get on those toes and reach into the sky. The graceful, conservative Hollywood style of Joe DiMaggio was going by the wayside. The bucket refers to the outside line of the batter's box. Ichiro makes pointing a bat down the line seem like a deep shoulder stretch. 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