Guys you had to watch hit

[lovethegame]

Maybe not HOF but boy when they were up you were glued.
A few of mine
Gallaraga, McCovey,REJAX,Richie Allen,Frank Howard and Jim Rice

[Victory Faust]

Cecil Fielder.

[brett]

hmmm....

Well I can tell you that I saw nothing special in Joe Morgan as a hitter from watching isolated plate appearances. He had a pretty windmillish swing and hit a lot of bloopers to straight away center.

I wanted to see every time up for Brett. You knew that if he put it in play he was all out to first, and early on the potential of the triple or IPHR, or the upper deck home run, or going to second on what should have been a single were always there. And his swing was great.

Others worth watching-
McGwire, Boggs, Todd Helton 4-6 years ago, Galarraga.

Whereas A-Rod can be kind of boring you know-good but boring to watch hit.

Piazza and Howard and Pujols have been fun to watch hit.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

hmmm....

Well I can tell you that I saw nothing special in Joe Morgan as a hitter from watching isolated plate appearances. He had a pretty windmillish swing and hit a lot of bloopers to straight away center.

I wanted to see every time up for Brett. You knew that if he put it in play he was all out to first, and early on the potential of the triple or IPHR, or the upper deck home run, or going to second on what should have been a single were always there. And his swing was great.

Others worth watching-
McGwire, Boggs, Todd Helton 4-6 years ago, Galarraga.

Whereas A-Rod can be kind of boring you know-good but boring to watch hit.

Piazza and Howard and Pujols have been fun to watch hit.

Boggs was the master, fouling off pitches till he got what he liked.
It didn't happen but watching this magician with the bat...........I thought he was going to get a hit every at bat. Throw in the other magician Rod Carew, bat control.

[brett]

Boggs was the master, fouling off pitches till he got what he liked.
It didn't happen but watching this magician with the bat...........I thought he was going to get a hit every at bat. Throw in the other magician Rod Carew, bat control.


I would agree. Boggs, Carew, and Gwynn wielded the bat differently than almost anyone else. I guess I would describe it as the bat finding the ball, almost like there was a magnetic attraction between the bat and ball, and then they could set the ball down where they wanted too.

Ichiro has that today, though its not as valuable in the slugg-fests of today's game.

I think that all 4 of these guys could have been legitimate power threats if they had done what Gwynn did near the end. Once you own the plate, and basically any pitch that the pitcher can throw for a strike, you can hit, then you occasionally look for a pitch to pull over the fence 15-20 times a year. It just makes you more dangerous.

[lovethegame]

hmmm....

Well I can tell you that I saw nothing special in Joe Morgan as a hitter from watching isolated plate appearances. He had a pretty windmillish swing and hit a lot of bloopers to straight away center.

I wanted to see every time up for Brett. You knew that if he put it in play he was all out to first, and early on the potential of the triple or IPHR, or the upper deck home run, or going to second on what should have been a single were always there. And his swing was great.

Others worth watching-
McGwire, Boggs, Todd Helton 4-6 years ago, Galarraga.

Whereas A-Rod can be kind of boring you know-good but boring to watch hit.

Piazza and Howard and Pujols have been fun to watch hit.Exactly!...
ARod is awesome but he doesn't have that "it" power a guy like Reggie had.
Fielder is another good choice.
Rico Carty is one I missed, he was just plain scary at the dish

[The Splendid Splinter]

Randall Simon... hahahaha

watching him swing... ugh. now that's a guy who puts everything he has in every swing and looks like he's gonna break his back at the end of it.

[digglahhh]

Gary Sheffield! Nobody consistently hits the ball as hard as Sheff. For the kind amount of power he has, he Ks relatively infrequently too.

Vlad is another must watch. Both Vlad and Piazza also hit the ball incredibly hard in their primes.

One of my favorites, just for pure amusement, was Willie McGee - the guy's body language made it look like the batter's box was the last place this man wanted to be.

Some guys are just worth it for the batting stance - Tony Batista, Juio Franco...

[nerfan]

George Brett was my personal favorite.

[lovethegame]

I would agree. Boggs, Carew, and Gwynn wielded the bat differently than almost anyone else. I guess I would describe it as the bat finding the ball, almost like there was a magnetic attraction between the bat and ball, and then they could set the ball down where they wanted too.

Ichiro has that today, though its not as valuable in the slugg-fests of today's game.

I think that all 4 of these guys could have been legitimate power threats if they had done what Gwynn did near the end. Once you own the plate, and basically any pitch that the pitcher can throw for a strike, you can hit, then you occasionally look for a pitch to pull over the fence 15-20 times a year. It just makes you more dangerous.
One year the Sawx told Boggs to pull the ball for more hr.
He hit 24.
Carew was a victim of his greatness how many guys can be talked of as washed up because they slipped to 318.
As for guys that weren't very good but compelling Johnny Ellis of the Yanks.
He would often hit two of the longest deepest highest foul balls you ever saw only to fan on the next down and away pitch.
Always wanted him to straighten onw out

[brett]

One year the Sawx told Boggs to pull the ball for more hr.
He hit 24.


A note that there also was a livelier "batch" of balls in play the first half of the season when Boggs hit .384 with 15 home runs. He hit 9 after the break which is probably more indicative of his potential, but I'm sure he could have hit 15+ a season with a few in the 20s.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

A note that there also was a livelier "batch" of balls in play the first half of the season when Boggs hit .384 with 15 home runs. He hit 9 after the break which is probably more indicative of his potential, but I'm sure he could have hit 15+ a season with a few in the 20s.


Something was in the wind in 1987, talk about the ball and the strike zone was discussed. It wasn't Wade alone.


Home runs AL
1985--------2178
1986--------2290
1987--------2634 OFF THE CHART.
1988--------1901 Back to the real world.
1989--------1718

[Sirmudgeon]

Bonds (both). Pujols. Reggie. Piazza. Rice. Canseco/McGwire (Bash Bros. era). Kingman. Bench. Brett. Sosa. Mattingly. Fielder (both). Utley/Wright (I think they're the same guy, with a clever uni/position change to confuse us). Strawberry. And, once uponce a time, Will Clark.

[lovethegame]

oscar gamble

[philkid3]

I, like every kid of the 90s, was enamored with Ken Griffey Jr's swing. Part of why I learned to switch hit was so I could more thoroughly pretend to swing using his stance and stroke.

[Ytown Tribe fan]

Brett, Belle, Bo, and Big Mac.

[Jestre]

Mike Schmidt, Roberto Clemente, Rose, Mantle.

[sds416]

George Brett was my personal favorite.

Agreed. I had a video tape a former coach gave me that was nothing but about 200 Brett AB's, I could watch it all day long. I finally wore the tape out when I was in college.

Sheff is alot of fun to watch at the plate. I'll watch Manny all day long as well. Right now, to me, he's the most impressive hitter in the game.

[hellborn]

Jack Clark. That guy could just kill the ball, and I loved his uncompromising approach at the plate. That little twist of his back foot as the pitch was being delivered was cool, too.
He was really more of a line drive hitter than a long fly hitter. The hardest hit ball I have ever seen in person was a Clark single to left, would have been extra bases but it went straight to the LFer on one skid. I'm sure there would have been a play at first if the ball had been hustled in. It seemed like zero time elapsed between the swing and the ball popping in the glove.

I've also enjoyed Manny, Hafner, McGwire, Canseco, Shawn Green (when healthy), Eric Davis, Kingman, Sheffield, Eric Anthony, and others.

[2Chance]

From the Big Red Machine days:
Rose, Morgan, Tolan, Perez, and Concepcion; (I would rather see Bench catch than hit)

Manny Sanguillen (that guy would swing at anything! ...and get hits!)
Roberto Clemente
Willie Mays :bowdown:
Mike Schmidt
George Brett
Mickey Tettleton
Cecil Fielder
Lou Whitaker*
Ken Griffey Jr.
Rickey Henderson
Gary Sheffield
McGwire & Sosa

You can see why on some of these. Unusual batting stances, pre-batting rituals, some sweet swings and some guys who could mash the ball.

Lou Whitaker is in his own category though, and here's why. The first time I took my wife to Tiger Stadium, Whitaker comes up to bat and the crowd says, "LOOOOOOOOOO...." She wants to know why they are booing him. :cap:

Willie Mays is in his own category too, but not for that reason. For the same reason as some other guys list Mantle. Willie wasn't so much for the tape measure shots, but like Mantle, he could do anything. (I don't remember the Mick, but I remember the Say Hey Kid.)

[digglahhh]

Will Clark.

As a kid, although I was a righty, Will Clark's batting stance was my favorite.

Jack Clark too, actually. I thought it looked real cool, when players stood in the bucket.

[brett]

I am confident that Griffey, Bonds and McGwire (later) and Larry Walker's swings all evolved directly from George Brett's

[MyDogSparty]

The guy I most wish I could have seen in his prime was Mickey Mantle.

The guys of my youth that I would never miss were George Brett and Rod Carew.

The guys of my adulthood that would make me stop what I'm doing include Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols.

[Sirmudgeon]

The guy I most wish I could have seen in his prime was Mickey Mantle.

The guys of my youth that I would never miss were George Brett and Rod Carew.

The guys of my adulthood that would make me stop what I'm doing include Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols.

Man, it's hard to argue with that. I would add Ruth, Gehrig, Foxx, Williams, Greenberg, and the Man, Musial, let alone Mays and Aaron and, oh, need I rememeber Gibson and... well now, I'm just dreaming. Full marks, Sparty.

[comiskey00]

Ken Griffey Jr has the sweetest swing I've ever seen. I love watching him hit.
Vlad's also fun to watch because he swings at everything but doesn't strike out too often.
From the video I've seen, Clemente had a unique/smooth swing that I would have liked to see live.

[lovethegame]

Wow
Some have it some don't
Jack the Ripper, spin that foot and crush it
I love BASEBALL

[BoSox Rule]

Manny
Nomar
Griffey, Jr.
Bonds
Pujols

would probably my top 5

I obviously love watching Ortiz hit, loved watching Bagwell and McGwire hit.