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#42
06-26-2007, 01:02 PM
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Re: Baseball Infield Shift
[ QUOTE ]
yea DKS, barry bonds obviously sux so much as a hitter that he needs this kind of advice... [/ QUOTE ] Glad we agree. Barry Bonds is terrible. Brett Butler would be laying down bunts on the 3rd base line. Brett Butler >>> Barry Bonds 
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#43
06-26-2007, 01:30 PM
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Re: Baseball Infield Shift
Part of the genius of Ted Williams was his insight that it wasn't the pitcher, who could choose pitch and location who dictated a confrontation, but it was the guy who could pull an inside fastball into the bleachers who dictated the game.
His reward was idiotic sports writers who didn't understand blaming him for stupidly/stubbornly/selfishly trying to pull the ball through the defense. (When he'd be pitched consistently with how he was being defended, and he'd be giving up too much by trying to sit on the outside half.)
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#44
06-27-2007, 09:21 AM
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Re: Baseball Infield Shift
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June 5, 1956 -- A's manager Lou Boudreau comes up with the "Mantle Shift" -moving the infielders around when Mantle bats lefty with the bases empty (left fielder plays deeps 3B‚ SS takes over 2B position‚ and 2B moves to short RF). Mantle K's twice trying to bunt‚ and hits a 2-run homer when the shift is not on‚ as KC wins 7-4. [/ QUOTE ] Boudreau believed a Mantle shift was an appropriate answer to Mick's extraordinary power. He believed Williams was too versatile for a similar tactic to be effective. I'm sure some severe adjustments were made for Bo Jackson, as well, but for Bo you might as well have taken a seat on top of the fence, since he tended to either strike out or hit one out.
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#45
06-27-2007, 01:56 PM
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Re: Baseball Infield Shift
"Mantle K's twice trying to bunt . . ."
Mantle loved to bunt with two strikes. I think he felt he struck out so much, he might as well try it against a tough pitcher when he was 0-2 or 1-2. I saw him do it successfully in his second at bat in a game in 1961 after lining a home run over the 467 sign in left center (batting left-handed) his first at bat. In 1961, Mantle's triple crown numbers were 54/128/.317. In 1956, they were 52/130/.353. Boudreau would probably have paid him to bunt. Which is the point. If he would have hit .400 bunting every time up, he would have been a much less effective player than he was. Williams said that the best swing results in a pulled fly ball and the Boudreau shift never stopped him from trying to do it. There was once a great story in SI featuring Williams talking with Mattingly and Boggs. Williams asked them if they preferred to hit the ball on the groud or in the air. When Mattingly said on the ground, Williams asked him how many doubles he had hit the previous year. Mattingly told him 53. And home runs? 31. Williams then asked him how many of those 84 hits were on the ground. Case closed.
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