weirdest batting & pitching quirks

[Pat_Terns]

I nominate Joe Morgan's elbow-flapping as the weirdest batting quirk.
Anybody want to second that nomination or add any others? For weirdest pitching motion, i've got to go with Hideo Nomo's hesitation wind-up. Anyone want to second that or add others?

[Captain Cold Nose]

Rupert Jones practically had a stare down with his bat between almost every pitch. Cecil Cooper's stance is also something that he'll be remembered for far greater than his run production.

[trosmok]

Luis Tiant had my favorite pitching style. He would start into his windup, and he managed to have looked at everyone in the park by the end of the game. Not only did he move his head in nine directions per pitch, he would release the ball from a dozen different angles. He could change speeds, threw a wicked curve, and his heater was deceptively fast. He perplexed hitters for nearly twenty years, and no one else has duplicated his quirks as effectively. When Roberto Clemente stepped into the box, he would stretch, roll his neck like he slept funny, and then pose like a matador and glare at the pitcher until the egg was delivered. Not as distinct as Morgan's wing-flap, but just as odd.

[Pat_Terns]

[updated:LAST EDITED ON Aug-05-02 AT 01:24 PM (EDT)]You guys have to help me in e-mailing ESPN to get SportsCenter to do a bit on this. :+
Luis Tiant pitching to Joe Morgan was probably one of the most entertaining combos of all time.
Doesn't Byun Yun Kim (is that right?) look funny when he looks toward 2nd base during his wind-up? It's a wonder he can deliver with such accuracy to the plate after doing that. Perhaps he took ballet lessons. I don't think any batter in history has held his bat higher than his teammate Craig Counsel. You have to wonder how many of these idiosyncrasies are natural and how many made up just to be different.

[PopTop]

Steve Carlton's facial contortions

Mike Hargrove, The Human Rain Delay

Nomar's toe tapping

Satchel's windmill windups

Willie Stargell's loopy-loop practice swing before a pitch

Milt May had a very weird batting stance

Al Hrabosky's Mad Hungarian act

Mike Fetters' "stare/glare"

Just a few more I can think of off the top of my head ... I'll always vote for Joe Morgan in just about any contest, however ... He was my fave ... My $0.02

[Pat_Terns]

[updated:LAST EDITED ON Aug-05-02 AT 07:46 PM (EDT)]I just sent an e-mail to Dan Patrick at the ESPN site to get their producers to do the video bit on this. It really would be funny to see it all compiled. If anyone knows any other ways to get e-mails to the SportsCenter folks, please plug this idea before them, or if they've already done the bit, to have them air it again.

[brihev]

[updated:LAST EDITED ON Aug-05-02 AT 08:35 PM (EDT)]Bobby Tolan's "reach for the sky" with his bat.
Mark the Bird talking to the ball

[Chisox73]

Tony Batista looks like the pitch is coming from the 1st base dugout.

[NickG]

Nomar's routine takes about 3 minutes per pitch. I'd have to vote that as the most annoying, for sure.
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You never know.

[jman74]

Darrell Porter:

Step out of box/adjust sleeves/adjust grip/push glasses back up nose/step into box/(repeat after each pitch)


Tony Taylor:

Bow head/look at bat knob/pray/cross self/drag toe in dirt/etc, etc.


Willie Montanez:

Flip bat while approaching batter's box


Willie Stargell:

"Bat stuck on twirl" (to paraphrase a Fox cartoon)

[Pat_Terns]

Gary Sheffield also wags his bat like crazy. Knoblauch goes through a lot of steps at the plate. Jeff Bagwell's crouch and extremely spread out legs is quite peculiar. There seems to be as many styles as there are players.

You guys like the clips of Joe Morgan that ESPN shows in the lead-in to Sunday Night Baseball? The elbow flap is of course shown, but also Morgan intently zipping around the bases. It's quite funny looking, a fairly short runner hauling ass with total concentration.

[PopTop]

Jesus Alou's neck-stretching wasn't something he started out doing ... He had a nasty collision (maybe with Roger Metzger) on a pop-up in the Astrodome ... Knocked Alou cold and really did a whiplash number on him ... He started holding the top of his helmet and rolling his neck after that.

[The Commissioner]

I can't believe that no one has named my two favorite quirks so far, both by former Giants. How about the high leg kicks by Juan Marichal on the mound and by Mel Ott in the batter's box? Too bad they never had the opportunity to play against one another. I bet that would have been a trip to see.

[trosmok]

I remember Marichal doing like the rockettes, but what did Ott do? Anyone remember Turk the quirk Wendell?

[PopTop]

Ott had a very pronounced leg lift/kick when he started his swing

[Pat_Terns]

"El Duke" Orlando Hernandez would have to be included among the most pronounced high leg kickers, as the guy practically kicks himself in the face with his knee during his wind-up.

Let's face it, many of these guys are not doing this naturally, but wanted to contrive a style of their own to jazz up the look of their game, not only to help them excel.:cool: It helps them look kool, makes them more memorable.

[dkpiatt]

Julio Franco's Batting stance is an anomaly. How the head of the bat points at the pitcher, he holds the knob of the bat, and he still won a batting title in 1991.

Also Dennis 'Oil Can' Boyd's delivery looks like he was all coked up during every game. He looked like he was break dancing during this delivery, but I loved him.

[ciamele]

Anyone remember Tim Tuffel of the Mets? He used to move his hips around, it was weird! I used to laugh everytime he came up to bat.

[Steffo]

Rip Sewell's Eephus
Craig Counsell's straight up and down stance

[Pat_Terns]

Mike Mussina bends down so far as he starts each pitch that he practically touches his knees with his head. I like the way he jumps and lands solidly on his feet after delivering.

[hellborn]

whoops!!!!!

[west coast orange and black]

tito fuentes used to flip and bounce his bat. his teammates called him "el mago" - "the magician".

[ReignInBlood]

This is one of the oldest topics on the board :faint:

Anyway, Hideo Nomo balanced himself with his lright foot for like 3 seconds in his windup.

[SamtheBravesFan]

Somebody brought it back from the dead! Run for your liiivvveeeessss!!!

[StanTheMan]

Ott had a very pronounced leg lift/kick when he started his swing


24012

Ott managed to hit more than 500 Homers somehow. Lots of them were at the Polo Grounds (and presumably right down the line, since most players could not hit one out to the power alleys at the Polo Ground without hitting the ball, walking out to where it landed and hitting it again, lol) but he still could hit.

[flash143817]

Fernando's "stare at heaven" while he was kicking his leg up during his windup

http://i.a.cnn.net/si/2006/writers/alex_belth/08/04/five.phenoms/t1_fernando.jpg

[Dalkowski110]

The Braves used to have a prospect catcher who I don't think ever made the Majors by the name of Toby Rumfield. Well, Toby had this insane leg kick before a swing...it was like a pitcher's leg kick! In fact, that's the only reason I remember him. Craig Counsell has a very odd stance. When Moises Alou first came up, he would bounce up and down on his heels. Another guy who did the 360-degree turn-around like Tiant or Nomo was a Pacific Coast League hurler named Dick Barrett, who experienced little success in the Majors. Dickie Kerr also wound up like this, and while he's shown throwing with the wrong hand in the movie "Eight Men Out," he's shown in a correct windup (most likely becauswe Eliot Asinof described it). PCL batting crown winner Oscar "Ox" Eckhardt had a batting stance remarkably similar to that of Tony Battista, except it was even more exaggerated. Some have said that the stance kept him out of the Majors. Roy Campanella had an open batting stance, but shook the bat around violently while waiting for the pitch to come. George Burns had his bat held at his waist. Turkey Stearnes had an odd stance. And you can't tell me that Tim Lincecum has a normal-looking stride in his windup. The list is nearly endless.

[natsnsoxfan]

Juan Marichal's was pretty strange wasn't it? Barry Zito's is pretty different, I wouldn't call it the strangest of the strange but its definately unique.

[John Shoemaker]

Sammy Sosa's hop out of the batters box after he hits a ball - "If I'm hoppin' I ain't stoppin'"

[NewEnglandAmazins]

Mitch Williams- I remember him nearly landing on his face after his delivery
Carney Lansford - Pecular bat movement
Julio Franco- what hasn't been said of his stance

[Seattle1]

They made a whole commercial about Ichiro's habit! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y1cwKmRO0s)

:happy:

[VTSoxFan]

When Hideki Okajima pitches the ball, he drops his head as the ball is released, and looks straight at the ground, or even a little behind him, as his head is turned so low at that moment. It's really kind of startling and makes me wonder how he can throw with such accuracy!

[natsnsoxfan]

When Hideki Okajima pitches the ball, he drops his head as the ball is released, and looks straight at the ground, or even a little behind him, as his head is turned so low at that moment. It's really kind of startling and makes me wonder how he can throw with such accuracy!

That is strange. I hope he never gets a ball hit back at him really hard because he'd never see it.

[NYMets523]

Joe Smith has an awkward delivery. It's somewhere between a sidearm and submariner.

[TRfromBR]

Musial had an unforgettably odd way of crouching, winding up like a corkscrew, peeking at the pitcher from a strange angle, waiting until the latest moment possible, and then proceeding to hit a demon ... all over the field. He did all this to "shrink the strike zone," and allow him the option of hitting to the opposite (left) field - something he did with unparalled success.

[hellborn]

Rudy York had a very odd stance and hitch...he stood with the bat more or less directly in front of the middle of his chest, and moved the bat back a lot with a big hitch...but, since the bat was so far forward to start with, he was in a normal launch position at the end of the hitch.
Hornsby, Foxx, and Greenberg all had hitches that would make a modern batting coach cry, of the conventional down-up&back style, but they seemed to do OK despite them.
Eric Davis kept his hands extremely low and didn't really seem to bring them up much before swinging...this made his follow through very distinctive, the bat ended up very low and out in front of him. Have to find a video to make sure I'm remembering right here.

[utterchaos jr.]

Nobody mentioned Coco Crisp...I don't think
HE taps his fingers againsts the bats like crazy

[utterchaos jr.]

This isn't verp weird, but Mariono goes out, comes back in, and then pitches (you'll probably have to see him)

[MarinersFan51]

rod carews different stances, a different one for every count, situation, and day of the week. and they all worked