Getting into the Swing

I spent a large part of my childhood playing sandlot baseball with a great group of friends up the street at a field near my house.  We played from sun up to sun down and, while winning and losing was always important, pride was really on the line when it came down to whomever could do the best Lenny Dykstra or Mickey Morandini.

Looking back on these days I have tried to think about batting stances that have forever stood out in my mind and, in no particular order, I have decided to list some below that will be forever ingrained in my head.

After reading please feel free to share some of your favorite batting stances or anything of the kind.

1. Lenny Dykstra- As previously mentioned, Dykstra was one of the forefathers of my Phillies life.  His batting stance was methodical, always going into the box, setting his feet, then balancing the bat between his legs while he tipped his helmet toward the mound and let out a huge spit of tobacco.  Then he would slowly pick up the bat, give a few waggles and sort of crunch down.  I will bet almost all of you – even you, anonymous mets fan – have done a Dykstra impression.

2.  Ken Griffey Jr.- Probably the player who looked the coolest while batting.  He made everything look simple, a nice smooth swing that naturally popped the ball out of the park.  Nothing to do with his batting stance, but if Griffey hadn’t lost so much time to injury, we wouldn’t need to worry about Barry Bonds tarnishing the career HR record.

3. Nomar Garciaparra- Watching Nomar get set in the box literally made me nervous.  The toe tapping, batting glove fixing, shaking of the bat… Probably the only career .300 hitter who looked like it was his first time, every time.

4.  John Kruk – Need I say more?  The helmet alone brings back memories, so covered in pine tar that you could barely see the logo.  Kruk held the bat so high above his head its amazing he was able to bring it down in time.  See Craig Counsel for the more modern version.

5.  Jeff Bagwell-  Imitating Jeff Bagwell was tough because it required some spiderman-like balance to be able to crouch so low and generate some serious power.  Bagwell was unique with that stance and Im not sure if any player has come anywhere near close to it since.  Also, I think Jeff Bagwell might have been the originator of the huge padded batting glove.

6.  Cal Ripken Jr. – Some of you might not remember Ripkens batting stance and frankly I don’t really either because he didn’t have one.  Ripken would step to the plate season after season with a somewhat different stance. His tinkering paid off though, winning him two MVP awards.

7. Gary Sheffield – The only thing that moved faster than Gary Sheffield’s hands was Rickey Henderson’s mouth.  I loved and still love watching Gary bat because his ability to not only time the ball but get his hands around so fast was genuinely impressive…. A similar case could be made for Barry Bonds, but seriously, nobody liked him as a kid and really who likes him now?

I have a feeling that, in certain circles, this will start a heated debate on who did who the best impersonations, because frankly I can already hear some of my friends claiming to own the best Dykstra…some things will never get old.

Again, if there is any great stances that we missed, please let us know!