One person I wish I could have talked to when I was playing is the Cincinnati Reds’ great Joe Morgan. He told the story of hitting .286 as rookie-of-the-Year for the Houston Colts and again when he was the starting second baseman for the National League in his second year. In both years he would have hit over .330 except for a couple of long hitless streaks in both seasons. During the slumps Joe said he tried everything–extra BP, extra rest, change this, change that, copy this guy, talk to that guy, etc. etc. Believe me, I know. I have been there!
At any rate one night at the end of his second season and in the middle of a hellacious slump he had tried everything. As he walked to his car in the players’ parking lot, a peanut vendor cashing out for the night yelled to him, “Hey Joe you gotta get your elbow up, get that elbow up!” With that Joe got in his car and decided he would try that the next night.
Then, as he turned the key, he thought, “Wait a minute. What the heck am I doing? I am Joe Morgan, Rookie of the Year, All-Star second baseman, and now I am taking batting tips from the Peanut Man. The Peanut Man!” He said to himself, “Enough is enough, From now on I‘m not taking tips from anybody. All I am going to do is give tips to other people. I am Joe Morgan and here is how I hit!”
After that Joe Morgan never went longer than 2 games without a hit for the next 18 years!
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