Babe Ruth in 1927 – Babe Ruth took batting practice before a World Series game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in October 1927. © Bettmann/Getty Images
As a baseball player and coach for the past 70 years I have to shake my head when I hear about all the new “baseball coaching techniques.” Some great coaches have begun to question themselves after being criticized for not teaching a certain way! Well guess what? I am an old timer and proud of it and the game hasn’t changed at all in the past 70 years except the kids are bigger, stronger, faster and baseball is now a global game!
There have always been self-promoting hitting guys who say their way is the only way to hit. The truth is there is no one way to hit and there never will be. Great hitters are all originals and they all have different motor preferences and genetics and they all move differently. Anyone can work with a great hitter and then claim “Every great hitter hits like I teach.” That’s baloney!
The game hasn’t changed since I played high school ball in 1963-66 when the coach asked us to hit line drives and asked our pitchers to throw strikes and mix it up on the good guys with power. If anything, the current philosophies of swinging for home runs and chasing velocity have really hurt baseball and caused a lot of serious arm injuries.
I say bring back the old days of pitching and defense, small ball, creating pressure, changing speeds, two-strike approaches, cutting down on strikeouts, and running the bases. In other words, bring back a little “old school baseball” and American baseball might just make a comeback. For all the new school technology in the US, half the position players in the MLB are from other countries where they respect their elders and baseball doesn’t cost a fortune to play ball. Maybe we should get back to “the good old days!”
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