"Hitting is fifty percent above the shoulders." You have to think, use your mind. What did that pitcher throw at you last time?
Grip the bat firm but not too tight.
Flex knees, be a little loose comfortable.
Go down to a low ball so can maintain level swing.
When pitcher starts to move, cock ourselves, looking at pitcher all the time and start swing into the ball.
Balance - weight evenly distributed on two feet.
Don't drop hands - hitch - at beginning of swing. Keep hands steady. Rather move back.
Shorter stride is faster and head moves less.
Hands fall back slightly, open hips hands following, wrists have not broken yet, wrists break then follow through.
Be quick with hands and wrists. Do pushups, chinups, squeezing balls to strengthen. But best of all get bat 10 ounces heavier than usual and keep swinging.
Hitting is science and art and the hardest thing to do in sports.
Always work on your game. Ted did finger tip pushups after games. In the batter's box he always watched pitcher. "That's what I learned from him. No matter how good you think you might be doing, there's always things you can do to improve."
"It's a pendulum action," Williams wrote. "A metronome--move and countermove. You might not have realized it, but you throw a ball that way, you swing a golf club that way, you cast a fishing rod that way. You go back, and then you come forward. You don't start back there. And you don't "start" your swing with your hips cocked."
Preparation gave him confidence. "I felt confident but never cocky," he said.
Always be ready for the fast ball.
He swung slightly up because the pitcher is pitching slightly down, so odds of making contact are greater.
Stay on balls of feet, not heels or you'll lose your power.
Bat according to your style and wait for a good pitch. As demonstrated by Williams’ legendary eye at the plate, which included 2,021 career walks and a major league record .482 on-base percentage, this rule was of great importance.
According to Williams, this was a lesson he learned from Rogers Hornsby, the man he considered to be the greatest all-around hitter - style, power, smarts - he ever saw play. Many ballplayers attempt to abide by the rule of only swinging at strikes and laying off balls out of the strike zone, but Williams took this concept to another level. Williams knew his swing so well, that he knew which areas of the strike zone were most beneficial to swing at and would produce the greatest results. Most important thing, look for good pitch. After have two strikes, have to give more to the pitcher so don't become strikeout king.
Don't stand too far back in the box because curve and breaking balls have their movement there and you still have to cover the plate. Stand even with plate.
Let pitcher throw first pitch so you can see him. If everyone did that, by 3rd inning he's pitched a game.
Use a short quick stride in the box.
Stand 12 inches from plate.
Get a good ball to hit, think properly and be quick with the bat.
Be quick with hands and wrists so can wait longer to see pitch.
Be in balance at all times in batter's box.
Don't crowd plate so can cover plate and hit with more authority.
Grip the bat like you would an axe, arms in a V. (Start with tough attitude like you are going to chop something up with an axe.)
Get mad at the pitcher. "There's only one way to become a hitter. Go up to the plate and get mad. Get mad at yourself and mad at the pitcher."
Viewed pitchers as being stupid. I think it's true. Who else throws a hard ball at a person? Didn't like managers either. Called them useless pieces of furniture. "All managers are losers, they are the most expendable pieces of furniture on the face of the Earth."
Never let anyone monkey with your swing. "I know - I know all about you (Carl Yastrzemski). Look, kid, don't ever - ya' understand me? - don't ever let anyone monkey with your swing."
Anybody who has ever set foot in a batter’s box realizes the difficulty of squaring up a pitched ball. In order for a player to be successful at the plate, it’s imperative that they have a certain level of confidence. This is commonly established by an individual being prepared. Has a player spent enough time on their training? Have they developed quality muscle memory? If the answer is yes, a hitter should be able to set foot into the batter’s box with a clear mind and let their fundamentals take over.
You don't have to be a muscleman and you don't start with hips cocked, you use a pendulum, be quick, agile and use motion.
When you show them you can handle the inside pitch then they go back outside.
Don't crowd plate because lock yourself up.
With a lighter bat, you can wait longer to swing.
Apply all of this to being Torah observant.
Use your brain. Never surrender your brain, think for yourself (Rav Soloveitchik)
Wait for a good pitch. Don't just grab any yeshiva, shul, shiur, rabbi, derech, woman. Look for a good one. Even Shabbos invitations. Do you just go to any table and have to sit and listen to a moron for 2 hours? If don't get a good one, don't swing. Don't go.
Balls of feet - be in balance, don't be a weirdo who walks funny, playing a character, who feels odd, you have to feel normal (Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky)
Don't let anyone monkey with your swing, don't let anyone rewire your brain. (Rav Yaakov again)
Grib bat firm but not too tight. You take it seriously, but don't be rigid as a board, Don't be overserious. (Mishlei: don't be too righteous.)
Get mad: don't be a milk toast, just trusting everyone, not realizing they have yetzer haras.
"You have to hit the fastball to play in the big leagues." Be alert and ready for challenges. Don't be naïve (Rav Soloveitchik: people today experience religion like children.)
Do your homework. Become educated. Know about history, halacha, philosophy.
Ted's advice on hitting showed incredible wisdom and he was incredibly successful: Slugging percentage 2nd in history .6338 and on base percentage 1st .482.
More on Ted: "Did they tell me how to pitch to (Ted) Williams? Sure they did. It was great advice, very encouraging. They said he had no weakness, won't swing at a bad ball, has the best eyes in the business, and can kill you with one swing. He won't hit anything bad, but don't give him anything good." - Bobby Shantz
Ted was the last baseball player to hit .400 in the major leagues. Ted's career hitting statistics will stand forever as a monument to his complete mastery of the single most difficult thing to do in sport: .344 lifetime batting average, 521 home runs, 1,839 RBIs and 2,654 hits.
Why do I love Ted Williams so much. It's this. If I had applied his wisdom of hitting to my life, I would have had an entirely different life. What is the message here? It's that your style matters. You don't steam roll over yourself. You are a unique soul so how can you let yourself be trampled upon and stamped out. Ted not only looked for strikes but strikes he liked to hit. Bat according to your style and look for a good pitch. So when you come into the Torah world you have to be careful, have to go slow. Because the culture is very odd and the Torah is odd too and takes a long time to get used to. And you have to do it in a way you can deal with. People everywhere pressure you to adopt a derech and get a rav. All of that is not batting according to your style and waiting for a good pitch. Better to apply Rav Yaakov's advice to kiruv people, which is just let them keep mitzvos now. Don't rewire their brains. Same with your approach to yourself. Now you keep mitzvos. Don't rewire your brain or let it be bashed around. So when the yeshiva world mocks everything - Soloveitchik, Chabad and everything else - and hits you with its very depressing outlook on life, tries to overtake your brain with its coarse negativity, just say no. Don't swing at that. Ted was bold yet flexible. Strong yet quick, agile. Amazing wisdom in his baseball.
From Ted:
Get A Good Ball To Hit - The first rule in the book that Rogers Hornsby originally impressed on me long ago.
You can see in the strike zone picture what I considered my happy areas, where I consistently hit the ball hard for high averages, and the areas graded down to those spots I learned to lay off, especially that low pitch on the outside 3 ½ inches from the plate. Ty Cobb once said, “Ted Williams sees more of the ball than any man alive - but he demands a perfect pitch. He takes too many bases on balls.” I didn’t resent that. I had 20-10 vision. A lot of guys can see that well. I couldn’t “see” the bat hit the ball, but I knew by the feel of it. A good carpenter doesn’t have to see the head of the hammer strike the nail but he still hits it square every time. A hitter learns in time where his happy zones are. There isn’t a hitter living who can hit a high ball as well as he can a low, or visa-versa, or outside as well as inside. All hitters have areas they like to hit in. But you can’t beat the fact that you’ve got to get a good ball to hit.
Proper Thinking. The second rule that you must always take up there with you. Have you done your homework? What’s this guy’s best pitch? What did he get you out on last time? I remember one time Hal Newhouser of Detroit dusted me off, then struck me out on three pitches, the last one a sharp letter-high fast ball. When I came to the bench I was livid. Rip Russell made a crack, and I said, “Listen, I’ll bet five bucks if he throws the same pitch again I’ll hit it out.” Newhouser did, and I did. Proper thinking is 50 percent of effective hitting, and it is more than just doing your homework on a pitcher or studying the situation in a game. It is “anticipating”, too, when you are at the plate, and a lot of hitters will say that is college talk for “guessing” and some will be heard to say in a loud voice, “don’t do it!” They’re wrong. Guessing, or anticipating, goes hand in hand with proper thinking. A simple example: If a pitcher is throwing fast balls and curves and only the fast balls are in the strike zone, you would be silly to look for a curve, wouldn’t you?
Be Quick With The Bat. The third rule applies all the time ~ there are several sections in my book, The Science of Hitting, that will help you with mechanics which you should read in conjunction with quickness to have complete understanding. Your practice time will make your mechanics automatic.
You have to think in terms of making everything quicker. How do you do that? You choke up a little bit. You quit trying to pull. You think more about that push swing, that 90-degree impact from the direction of the pitch. You think about hitting the ball back through the box. Joe DiMaggio, Joe Cronin, George Kell, Lou Boudreau, Harvey Kuenn - they could do it. Rod Carew, George Brett, Wade Boggs, Don Mattingly and Pete Rose are probably the most flexible hitters around today. When you’ve shortened up and quickened up, you can wait longer, you get fooled less, you become more consistent getting wood on the ball. Psychologically, becoming a good two-strike hitter inspires confidence. A batter knows he can still hit with authority.
The Baseball Bunch - Ted Williams - YouTube
Roy Firestone interviews Ted Williams - YouTube
didn't see combat in wwII
cleveland develped the ted williams shift, they stood in right field, But Ted Williams became the most well-known target. In fact, the "Ted Williams shift" -- an extreme version with six defenders stationed on the right half of the field -- was born when Indians player-manager Lou Boudreau tried it in July 1946.
he still hit there didn't want to swing out of strike zone and develop bad habits
kept true to his style
Texas Rangers vs The California Angels and Interview with Manager Ted Williams - April 1972 - YouTube
Williams, DiMaggio introduced in Toronto - YouTube
2008 ASG: 49 Hall of Famers join All-Star line-ups - YouTube
Ted Williams on What's My Line - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqss0doIhnI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG_qpU-5AWQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KCyo_dWFp0
Pete Rose: Billy Hamilton said, look for the fast ball. You can adjust to anything else.
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