Ted Williams, the “splendid splinter,” the last man to bat over .400 in a major league baseball season, once opined that hitting was the hardest task in all sport. While there may be a case to make for pulling of a successful onside kick, there’s no doubt that the oft-repeated truism that a person can fail seven out of ten times and still be an All-Star is a good reminder that taking a round bat and trying to hit a round ball square with it is indeed a formidable challenge.
However.
The way the Mariners are struggling at the plate seems to suggest that the difficulties are underestimated; you look at shortstop Brad Miller flailing away, for instance, and you’d set the level of complexity even higher—something akin to solving the crisis in the Middle East or finding a good bagel west of the Mississippi.
There must be some simple trick that a hundred and fifty years of players has simply missed. Maybe arranging one’s hands in an opposite grip or turning the bat upside-down could help; such techniques certainly couldn’t hurt where the M’s are concerned; as I type this, I’m watching them being shut out once again, a phenomenon that would be more painful if it weren’t so ubiquitous.
Anyone who’s ever stood in a batter’s box, facing a pitched ball, knows how hard it is to get on base. Even a recreational softball player like yours truly is aware of that. But for heaven’s sake, you’d think that professional athletes, nearly all of whom are being paid millions of dollars a year to perform this feat would be able to do so with a bit more aplomb.
Maybe my favorite hitter ever to watch was Pittsburgh Pirates’ outfielder Matty Alou who won the National League batting title in 1966. He used to use a bat as big around as a tree trunk; he’d choke way up, rather than just choke like M’s hitters.
However.
The way the Mariners are struggling at the plate seems to suggest that the difficulties are underestimated; you look at shortstop Brad Miller flailing away, for instance, and you’d set the level of complexity even higher—something akin to solving the crisis in the Middle East or finding a good bagel west of the Mississippi.
There must be some simple trick that a hundred and fifty years of players has simply missed. Maybe arranging one’s hands in an opposite grip or turning the bat upside-down could help; such techniques certainly couldn’t hurt where the M’s are concerned; as I type this, I’m watching them being shut out once again, a phenomenon that would be more painful if it weren’t so ubiquitous.
Anyone who’s ever stood in a batter’s box, facing a pitched ball, knows how hard it is to get on base. Even a recreational softball player like yours truly is aware of that. But for heaven’s sake, you’d think that professional athletes, nearly all of whom are being paid millions of dollars a year to perform this feat would be able to do so with a bit more aplomb.
Maybe my favorite hitter ever to watch was Pittsburgh Pirates’ outfielder Matty Alou who won the National League batting title in 1966. He used to use a bat as big around as a tree trunk; he’d choke way up, rather than just choke like M’s hitters.
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