News and Announcements
Haven't we all been told at one time or another to stride or take a step into the ball during our swing? Your little league coach probably told you that that was the way to get your weight into the ball and achieve some power. Well, guess what? That is the exact way to lose most of your power. You see, most of your power is produced by your lower body, and if your weight is transferred too quickly, as most hitters do, your power has been exhausted before it can be properly utilized. So, what is the solution? First you must understand that hitting a baseball has a great deal to do with leverage and keeping your head in one spot, or at the very least, on one plane throughout your swing. Therefore, Clutch Hitting encourages its students to practice a stride or a step which achieves the utmost leverage and at the same time promotes a swing which keeps the batter's head in the same spot throughout the swing. Questions or clarification: E-mail us and we would be glad to explain in greater detail or supply you with one of our basic hitting fundamentals manuals. Bonus Hint: A different way to practice "Up against the Wall" Stand in front of a mirror in your batting stance. Pay attention to where your nose or eyes are located in the mirror, and place a piece of tape on the spot. Now, take your batting stance again, your nose or eyes should not be visible because of the tape. Then, take your step/stride and if you can then see your nose or eyes then you are coming off the wall and transferring too much weight. Then, repeat the whole process and add your swing, your eyes/nose should still be behind the tape.
All material © Clutch Hitting, 2002
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You have read Shanley's Corner. Now read these famous baseball quotes: Baseball is our national pastime, that is if you discount political campaigning. Ronald Reagan Baseball? It's just a game - as simple as a ball and a bat. Yet, as complex as the American spirit it symbolizes. It's a sport, business - and sometimes even religion. Ernie Harwell in 1955 With those who don't give a damn about baseball, I can only sympathize. I do not resent them. I am even willing to concede that many of them are physically clean, good to their mothers and in favor of world peace. But while the game is on, I can't think of anything to say to them. Art Hill in I Don't Care If I Never Come Back Say this much for big league baseball - it is beyond question the greatest conversation piece ever invented in America. Bruce Catton, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Baseball is almost the only orderly thing in a very unorderly world. If you get three strikes, even the best lawyer in the world can't get you off. Bill Veeck Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. George F. Will When he hit it, I knew that it was my ball. But I had to catch it and it seemed like the hardest catch of my life. I said to myself, 'Two hands, just like your dad taught you.' Darin Erstad on catching the final out in Game 7 Grantland Rice, the great sportswriter once said, 'It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game.' Well Grantland Rice can go to hell as far as I'm concerned. Gene Autry What does a mama bear on the pill have in common with the World Series? No cubs. Harry Caray People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. Rogers Hornsby You spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time. Jim Bouton in Ball Four It's designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything is new again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains comes, it stops, and leaves you to face the fall alone. A. Bartlett Giamatti, former Comissioner of Baseball A hot dog at the ball park is better than steak at the Ritz. Humphrey Bogart The other sports are just sports. Baseball is a love. Bryant Gumbel Nothing flatters me more than to have it assumed that I could write prose, unless it be to have it assumed that I once pitched a baseball with distinction. Robert Frost You teach me baseball and I'll teach you relativity...No we must not. You will learn about relativity faster than I learn baseball. Albert Einstein It’s still the best game in town because you don’t have to be big to play, and everybody plays. Even your grandmother probably played baseball. Tommy Lasorda
What I've Learned From Baseball by Coach John Peter
Posted by Patrick Piteo at Nov 25, 2002 4:00PM PST
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The game of baseball is infinitely more complex than most give it credit for. Most that I have learned about baseball is common sense…but each lesson took someone with more common sense than I to point it out. For Dads with Kids The 1st lesson a boy needs to be taught is how to love the game! This starts young and are the memories that keep them going through the inevitable hard times. How?… Take him to Spring Training, to Cooperstown, to a High School game, play catch with him on Christmas day (even if it is out in the snow). For Pitchers Pitchers are made in the off season! Yes, this was in the last issue...it is that important and bears repeating! For Coaches Long Toss, done properly, will do more to developing a strong, healthy arm than most anything else I know.
