College Baseball Player With Funny Stance
Even now, equally we've grown into adults and forgotten some of the elementary joys of youth, in that location'southward an overwhelming sense of nostalgia in picking upwardly a baseball bat. They're basically magical memory sticks. Selection up a bat, and you're hit with the overwhelming want to pretend that you're once again standing in your childhood backyard, pretending to stand at the plate and swing away like your favorite actor of adolescence.
Sentimentality is one hell of a drug, isn't information technology?
My own baseball game career concluded after a tryout for a Division 2 school — I made the squad, but I wasn't a fan of the coach (a buddy played for him the previous flavour) and I was realistic about my pro chances (zero), and so I considered that ending on a high note. I've kept a baseball bat at my desk-bound for the two decades I've been a sportswriter; like Lt. Kaffee in "A Few Expert Men," I think ameliorate with my bat. "My bat" is the 29-inch, 21-ounce brilliant bluish Louisville Slugger that was a giveaway at a Chillicothe Paints Borderland League game I covered in 1999. I had a media credential for the game, but when I saw the twenty-four hours'south giveaway, I went exterior, bought a $3 full general admission ticket and went through the turnstiles to claim my prize.
I've always known I'g not lone, only that truth was reinforced final week. I sent this tweet and was blown abroad past the response.
When you were a kid, what player'southward batting opinion was your favorite to imitate?
— Ryan Fagan (@ryanfagan) November 25, 2020
This tweet has generated nine.2 one thousand thousand impressions (so far), and the more 25,000 responses — via answer or quote tweet — meant that my mentions were impossible to proceed up with for well-nigh two solid days. At 1 bespeak a couple of hours after the tweet, Gary Sheffield was the No. viii trending topic on all of Twitter because of your overwhelming response to this question — and Craig Counsell, Jeff Bagwell and Ken Griffey Jr., were in the top thirty trending topics, as well. At some signal, it went through the "popular political reporters QT'd their answers" phase that lets y'all know information technology really has struck a chord.
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My favorite part was how many players were included in some type of "Player X is the simply correct answer!" responses. There were more than than a dozen players mentioned in those types of statements, including some who didn't even brand this last list because (spoiler!) at that place are many right answers to a question asking about private favorites.
The original plan was to actually count every "vote" and tabulate the responses but it took less than a half-hour to realize that wasn't happening. Then I tried to go along upward the best I could, taking notes, both mental and physical, along the fashion.
And hither's what I tried to do with this ranking: marry the ideas of WHY kids would imitate stances in the backyard — A) to get better, B) to have fun — drawing on my considerable experiences from a childhood of thread-bare tennis assurance and logos-worn-off baseball bats. My backyard had a giant dirt patch for home plate and smaller ones for each of the bases and the pitching mound. There was a giant maple tree blocking the path for home runs in left field, and our "ground dominion" was basically "play it where it lies," which meant a ball headed to the tree could have snuck through for a homer or could accept been knocked down and defenseless by an agile fielder. Yous merely never knew, and that was part of the fun.
And because that tree was there, I spent hours perfecting the art of switch-hitting, and so I could hitting unimpeded homers into right field with a lefty swing that was sometimes Will Clark and sometimes Jose Oquendo and sometimes just me. Some homers were "puddle balls" — those striking high enough to articulate that tree and splash downwards in my buddy Eric's in a higher place-ground pool, and we'd all volunteer to jump in to get those during sweltering Missouri summer afternoons — and some were "two-fencers," though those were exceedingly rare for a neighborhood with more Willie McGees than Mark McGwires.
Anyway, I'grand getting sidetracked. Bespeak is, this ranking is, at its essence, arbitrary. I know that. Y'all know that. If you call back my ranking is incorrect, you're probably right. If you call back I'm crazy for omitting the guy you lot copied the well-nigh, I repent. I wanted to make this listing 50 players long, and then settled on ten and couldn't cutting 5 guys so information technology's fifteen.
And I'one thousand securely deplorable for leaving off these players (non listed in any particular order, btw): Volition Clark, Willie McGee, Don Mattingly, Tim Tuefel, Derek Jeter, Jerome Walton, Barry Bonds, Rickey Henderson, Cal Ripken, Nomar Garciaparra, Frank Thomas, Carl Yastrzemski, George Brett, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Pete Rose, Reggie Jackson, Jim Leyritz, Chipper Jones, Dale Spud, Keith Hernandez, Bo Jackson, Wade Boggs and Jose Canseco. So many others, as well.
And a HUGE thank-you to someone who knows this subject matter better than anyone, Batting Opinion Guy. He was generous enough to add his considerable skills to the project with a couple of videos that have kept me laughing even upon multiple rewatches.
Without further ado, the very official, thoroughly researched ranking of the xv about imitated baseball batting stances in backyards across America since 1975.
15. Phil Plantier
The Stance Signature: In the iconic moment of The Plantier Squat, the lefty's legs were damn virtually parallel to the ground as he waited to pounce on whatsoever wayward fastballs that might catch too much of the plate. His explosion into the baseball was like nothing I'd ever seen at the time, and when he connected with a pitch, it looked similar it might never land. He was basically the Happy Gilmore of the baseball diamond. The reality of trying to mimic that stance in the backyard was that in all the excitement of trying to spring into the baseball, you'd forget about actually watching the pitch. Now, a warning: The Plantier squat is non recommended for out-of-prime-shape adults trying to recreate the backyard stances of their youth, at to the lowest degree without a vigorous stretching session. Muscles will be pulled, people.
14. Ichiro Suzuki
The Stance Signature: Everything Ichiro did was so very cool, from the time he first hit the big leagues until his terminal AB in the majors. He'd stroll up to the batter'southward box, dig that left toe into the clay, then step in and swing both arms high above his caput in a smooth arc. His right arm stopped at a ninety-degree angle, with the bat straight up skyward from his hand, and he kept it in that location for a few seconds that felt like forever. That part was replicable. The bat control he had, where he could slap pretty much any pitch to pretty much any part of the ballpark, though? That was his and his alone.
13. Darryl Strawberry
The Stance Signature: The way Height Strawberry stood at the plate, nearly straight-upwards with a slight tilt in and dorsum to his upper one-half, with his hands nigh hidden backside his front end shoulder, he seemed very much similar a puma set to pounce on an unsuspecting pitcher. And when he unleashed everything? Only, wow. Even when he hit a habitation run off your favorite team, you lot couldn't really be mad because that swing — the leg kicking, the lightning-quick bat speed through the zone and that postcard-perfect follow through — was a thing of dazzler deserving of marvel, not detest. And, no affair what we might have thought in the deepest reaches of Ego Land, our swings didn't look annihilation similar Darryl'southward.
12. Rod Carew
The Stance Signature: Carew's stance might non have been almost "fun" to imitate, but if you were an aspiring batsman prepping for Little League success, Carew was perfect. There were no superfluous movements, no unnecessary adjustments to make. He was all business, with his bat nigh on aeroplane every bit he leaned back, waiting to dial whatsoever pitch might make it to information technology's proper place on the diamond. Personally, Carew was a bit earlier my fourth dimension, only Jose Oquendo had a similar left-handed approach, leaning back with the bat on airplane, and my Oquendo imitation made me i hell of a switch-hitter at McNair Park.
eleven. Craig Counsell
The Opinion Signature: Counsell'south easily strained skyward like he was a toddler trying with all his might to reach for that cookie he knew was sitting merely a couple of inches from the border of the kitchen countertop. Counsell didn't accept the stretch-and-strain approach his whole career, and he certainly didn't use it every at-bat, only who remembers any of Counsell'southward "normal" at-bats? He held his hands at a standard meridian, then raised them high as the pitcher came set. Then, merely as the bullpen was about to release the ball, his hands lowered as he transitioned into the swing, which was a scrap herky-jerky. His whole approach seemed stressful, which is why it was the bane of apprentice coaches wherever Counsell played.
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ten. Mickey Tettleton
The Opinion Signature: The Tettleton mystique was all near the bat position. He stood straight up, basically, but held the knob of his bat a picayune in a higher place his waist, with the barrel of the bat pointing dorsum at the umpire's shoulder, maybe 20 degrees higher up horizontal. The laid-back bat was due entirely to the angle of his wrists. It's not that he was the only one who did this — it was actually a very similar bat position to Rod Carew — but he was a power hitter, not a slap hitter like the others. He'd slowly raise the bat head equally the pitcher went into the windup, and by the time the ball was headed toward the plate, the stance actually looked pretty standard. The beauty of imitating Tettleton in backyards beyond the state was this: He was a switch-hitter, and he had the same basic opinion both ways, so it didn't affair which way y'all naturally hit equally a kid — you could copy Mickey (but not your father's Mickey, Mantle).
9. Tony Batista
The Stance Signature: If nosotros were ranking "weird" stances, this would probably be No. 1. Batista started an at-bat facing the bullpen with the entire front of his body, his right foot on the inside edge of the batter's box and the left human foot fashion out toward the outside edge. And he held the bat straight in front with both hands, like a samurai waiting to face his attacker. Then, as the pitcher came ready, he'd swivel the upper function of his trunk toward the plate while leaving his feet ready. And so, finally, when the pitch was delivered he'd stride toward the plate for his swing. It was — and is — just and then bizarre that yous couldn't help but effort it in the backyard because, I dunno, perchance there was really something magical about information technology. I mean, Batistia wasn't a large guy — listed at 6 feet, probable generously — but he striking at least 25 homers six years in a row, so why not endeavor to connect into some of that magic?
8. Joe Morgan
The Stance Signature: It'south all about the arm flap for Morgan. It doesn't matter how yous actually stand at the plate — as long as y'all flap your back arm a couple of times like a crazy person, people will know you're imitating Joe Morgan. And if in that location's any incertitude you're trying to imitate Morgan, it helps to striking twenty-plus homers, steal fifty-plus bases, have an OBP north of .400, win a couple of MVP awards and go elected to the Hall of Fame. That would really leave no uncertainty.
seven. Kevin Youkilis
The Opinion Signature: Youkilis is the simply one who could requite Batista a run for the "weird stances" title. He'd dig into the back of the box — nobody noticed the position of his feet, I hope — and raise the bat over his caput, the barrel pointing out toward the outfield. His lesser hand — his left, because Youkilis was a right-handed hitter — stayed on the knob, but the right hand crept up toward the trademark, simply guiding the bat instead of grabbing it. His easily at this point would exist farther abroad than even the turn-of-the-century (20th, non 21st) batsmen who put a space in the give-and-take "base of operations ball" and double spaces between their hands on the bat. No thing how weird you felt trying to imitate Youkilis in the lawn, it wasn't equally weird equally he looked actually using that stance confronting MLB pitching. It worked, though; he retired with 150 career homers and a .382 career on-base of operations percentage.
6. Eric Davis
The Stance Signature: Davis stood straight up in the box, back genu bent just a bit, with no tension at all in his appearance and artillery a fiddling higher than his waist. He didn't then much waggle the bat as he appeared to let information technology drib a bit, and then lifted it dorsum up sporadically. Few, if any, players have always looked so relaxed at the plate. "I'm so absurd, I don't even care, hey look I just hit a habitation run off you," is what I imagined him saying, correct after he ditched the nonchalance and attacked the baseball with a bat that seemed to attain any pitch, anywhere effectually the plate. The speed and the ability were jaw-dropping. If simply he had stayed salubrious, he could take fix records that never would be broken.
5. Jeff Bagwell
The Opinion Signature: Let me put information technology this mode: If I was to attempt to do the splits right now, I would non be able to get my butt as close to the ground as Jeff Bagwell did on almost every single plate appearance during his Hall of Fame career. Fifty-fifty now, looking at pictures of Bagwell'south opinion and watching video, I'm wincing with phantom pain in the theoretical groin muscle I hypothetically pulled while imagining my potential endeavor at imitating his squat/splits opinion. How in the world he generated any power at all is beyond me, but he admittedly did. Massive, copious amounts of power. But but because it worked for him doesn't mean it worked for everybody else (or anybody else). This opinion, I feel it'southward safe to say, was not the favorite of Little League coaches and hitting instructors around Houston from, oh, 1991 to 2005.
4. Willie Stargell
The Stance Signature: I don't call up it's going out on a limb to say that there is no batting stance in baseball history that's more of a joy to imitate than Stargell's. But endeavour non to smile while doing the windmills and pumps earlier coming set afterward one final smooth, quick windmill every bit the pitcher goes into the windup. It probably helps that Pops was such a loveable baseball icon, what with those "Nosotros Are Family" Pirates teams of the 1970s. You can't assistance merely sing that as y'all're windmilling at the plate, even if information technology'southward but playing Wiffle Ball. (You're singing that song in your head now, aren't yous?)
3. Julio Franco
The Stance Signature: You could insist that Franco should exist No. 1 and I wouldn't argue. Maybe I should number these Big Three something similar 1a, 1b and 1c. I dunno. Franco's stance has to exist the well-nigh iconic pre-swing stationary pose in baseball history, right? And it wasn't simply what he did with the bat — nosotros'll get there in a moment — that was unique. Franco would stand there in the box with his feet more than shoulder-width apart just his thighs velcro'd together and knees just an inch or two apart. Then, he'd raise both hands high to a higher place his head and point the business end of the bat back at the pitcher, almost in a taunting fashion. He looked similar a knock-kneed cobra, waiting to uncoil and strike viciously at hanging breaking balls and headstrong fastballs that had lost their mode. And he did this all while swinging a heavy 36-ounce bat, somehow. And he used that aforementioned stance in a career that spanned from 1982, when he was a teammate of Pete Rose (born in 1941), to 2007, when he was teammates with Jarrod Saltalamacchia (built-in in 1985). Franco was a wonder, for many more reasons than but his batting opinion.
2. Gary Sheffield
The Stance Signature: I'm not sure what you would call what Sheffield did with his bat as he waited for the bullpen to come set and deliver the pitch. Information technology certain was intense as hell, though. He'd wave/waggle/swat it around similar the globe's most energetic metronome. He was daring the pitcher — practically begging the guy on the mound — to throw anything anywhere most the plate so he could brew information technology into outer space. And when the swagger and stance were repeated by those of us in backyards everywhere? Well, permit's just say our plate field of study wasn't great on those pitches, considering how can you have that ambitious, anticipatory approach at the plate and so let anything sail by yous? Basically, what I'grand saying is I have no idea how Sheffield walked 304 times more than he struck out in his career, because I didn't meet whatever patience in that approach (even though information technology clearly was there).
1. Ken Griffey, Jr.
The Opinion Signature: Unlike most of the players on this list, the fine art of imitating Griffey was in the terminate, non the beginning. Watching that swing allow anyone holding a baseball bat know that perfection existed, and the pursuit of that perfection was an admirable quest, even if achieving that end goal — an actual Griffey-esque follow-through — wasn't probable. That reality didn't stop a kid from believing, from posing after a swing, whether or not the ball went over the fence. There were definitely days when I hit a ball into the pine copse in my buddy Garrett'south backyard — those coniferous landmarks were basically deep correct-heart — and, yeah, I stood there with my cap on backwards and smiled like I'd cleared the Kingdome fence.
At present, folks, if y'all'll excuse me, I gotta go discover a buddy and a backyard and get to work.
Source: https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/the-15-mlb-batting-stances-weve-imitated-most-in-the-backyard-since-1975/1q4zm27ugx0fs18ap15daan4ed