re: Prettiest swing in baseball--past or present

Yaz, hands down. Just call him 'smooth'

Of course Griffey is tops, but I have always liked Big Mac's ridiculous swing and I always lived Andruw Jones so his swing is one of my favorites

There were lots of pretty swings on the Big Red Machine lineup back in 1970...but I'll choose Johnny Bench. He was a hall of famer and connected constantly with the sweet spot

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All great power hitters have a slight uppercut

Dude talking about a flat swing is perfect lo

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A very very slight uppercut, and mostly just in the follow-through

Or was Babe Ruth not a great power hitter?

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Dave Justice wasn’t too shabby

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He did have a nice swing.

He also was banging Halle Berry and then dumped her like she was some common 7.5. #stud

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but Ted Williams has taught since the 60’s that you want a slight uppercut

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Again, slight.

Ted Williams swing is actually very very similar to Bonds.



Jr's swing is much more of an uppercut than either Bonds or Williams or the aforeposted Ruth. From any angle. On any pitch. You can like his swing all you wan, but let's call a spade a spade.

You are just proving my point. Griffey-babe-ted all have the same uppercut. Griffey just doesn’t have a hitch & he starts his hands higher, so it looks more dramatic. Find a good video of Hank and you’ll see the same thing

Mickey Mantle's swing was also fairly flat...

Right-handed:


Lefty:



....but it was also not a swing that any kid should be attempting to copy. Holy balls did he throw his body into that thing. If you just looked at his swing from the waist down, you might think he was throwing a fastball, not trying to hit one. Not surprising that he struck out so much.

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Find a good video of Hank and you’ll see the same thing

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I did above, and it doesn't show that at all.

I've posted, on this page of the thread, gifs of Ruth, Williams, Aaron, Bonds, Mantle, and Griffey. I did not cherry pick these gifs. i took the first ones google gave me.

And there is no way you can look at those gifs and tell me that Griffey's swing follows a similar plane as the others. and I'm not even trying to get into an argument about the merits of a flatter swing v. a more uppercut swing....i'm simply saying that if you aren't acknowledgign that Griffeys' is a pronounced uppercut vis a vis the others, you aren't being honest.

And whatever a person things is a "pretty" swing is a purely subjective thing.

for me, I like watching compact, efficient athletic movements. I see beauty in utility.

Bonds' swing is similar to a perfectly thrown left hook in boxing. For those of you who don't box, a left hook is not thrown with the arm. The arm is simply along for the ride. the torso rotates first, and then ht arm simply acts as a conduit by which all that rotational force gets delivered.



Compact is better.
Compact is beauty.