Check out Mickey Mantle’s bat lag. Photo courtesy: LegendaryAuctions.com
This post looks into Mickey Mantle’s left handed swing, hitting home runs. We do swing analysis, look at his height compared to current players, strength, and share a bleacher report article with his switch hitting left right split stats. We’ll also compare his swing principles to an Olympic Javelin thrower!
Since publishing the YouTube video, it has amassed over 148,241 views and 500 video “Likes”.
The basic premise of the above video is to compare Mickey Mantle’s right handed swing mechanics to Czech javelin thrower, Jan Železný’s throwing technique. Jan is a world and Olympic champion and world record holder. He also holds the top five javelin performances of all time…according to Wikipedia.
In the video, I brought up my favorite Ralph Waldo Emerson quote many of you have seen me post before:
“As to the methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.“
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The human movement “principles” we’re comparing in the video are:
The reason I picked “The Mick”, is because he wasn’t really a big guy, according to Baseball Reference.com, he stood at only 5’11, 195-pounds.
Don’t get me wrong, Mickey Mantle was a naturally strong dude. But he wasn’t the size of today’s behemoths:
And, some of The Mick’s dingers have been the talk of folklore, claiming to have traveled over 600-feet!
Although with the computation of Metrics now, as Christopher Harbour, a YouTube reader commenter on this particular video, put it:
“The farthest official home run in MLB history was hit by Babe Ruth in Detroit at a distance of 585ft. Mickey’s longest shot was 510Ft. It was often claimed to be much farther but that distance was the distance AFTER the ball rolled. This info is proven by SABR historian Bill Jenkinson.”
Whatever the case, it’s still amazing that a guy of Mickey Mantle’s stature, can hit a ball over 500-feet! We don’t see Giancarlo, Miggy, or Trout doing that.
And by the way, everyone thinks Babe Ruth was this hulking mass of a guy…he was only 6’2″, 215-pounds. And according to the above comment, launched the longest dinger 585-feet!
So what was Mickey Mantle doing mechanically making him so special that we as coaches should be teaching our younger hitters?
Look at Mickey Mantle’s shifting foot pressure… Photo courtesy: http://s685.photobucket.com/user/BillBurgess
I said in the video that The Mick’s back knee wasn’t floating over his ankle, but that’s simply not true. This was knowledge residue from past baseball experts I was listening to at the time.
What Mickey Mantle did really well was shifting his foot pressure.
We can see from the moment he lifts his stride foot to that foot touching down that his foot pressure looks like this:
This is similar to a story one of my readers, Stephen Reid, shared about prolific golfer Ben Hogan (5’9″, 145-pounds), saying in an email:
“A friend of mine worked at Shady Oaks in Dallas where Hogan played and practiced. Towards the end of Mr. Hogan’s time of ‘grinding it out of the dirt”, he was allowed the opportunity to sit and watch him hit balls. He said that Mr. Hogan started talking about the stance, and he stated that the way he thought it would come to pass in the future would be that both feet at address would both be turned slightly towards the target- 30 to 45 degrees. By turning the right foot in at address, the golfer would essentially be putting a governor on his/her right side.
He also reasoned that by doing this, the player would create the tension and brace with the right side and would create a strong coil that would not allow for any “over-coiling or over-swinging”. Therefore, you would be presetting the coil or brace of the right side in a controlled manner and would not allow oneself to overturn in the backswing. Conclusion was that the energy from a strong brace and controlled coil, the golfer would create greater energy in the release of the right side while creating greater swing speeds through impact.”
As Mickey Mantle’s stride foot lands the foot pressure shifts as follows:
Mickey Mantle is also most certainly picking up his stride foot and leading with his hip forward. Just pick out a point of reference in the background, and track how far his hip moves forward. He’s effectively ‘un-weighting’ his bat, or getting a “head start”, to make the transfer of linear momentum into angular (or rotational) easier.
And we can clearly see the Javelin Thrower, Jan Železný, using forward momentum sprinting down the track before slinging his “arrow” A LONG WAY.
The ‘Springy X Pattern’ I developed through reading the book Anatomy Trains
It’s the idea that there are compression and tension forces acting within the body at all times. In the Mickey Mantle video, I talk about imagining a big ‘X’ on his chest and back…connecting one shoulder to the opposite hip. The fascial lines are a little more complicated than this, but let’s take a general look at how this works…
When Mickey Mantle pre-loads his torso – before turning – we see his lead shoulder come down and in towards his back hip (one leg of the ‘X’ shortens), while the rear shoulder and front hip move away from each other (other leg of the ‘X’ lengthens). And the reverse is true on the backside.
This is evidenced by tracking his LEFT shoulder:
CLICK HERE for an interesting article titled “Muscle Power Golf?!…NOT!” by Kelvin Miyahira (big thanks to Stephen Lowe for the link). It talks about how the swing – whether we’re talking baseball/softball or golf – IS NOT about activating fast twitch muscle fibers, but engaging the springy fascia. It’s a rant that I wish I did FIRST!!
Marie Louise Hunnicutt book recommendation – Baseball’s Ultimate Power: Ranking The All-Time Greatest Distance Home Run Hitters
Also, here’s slow motion video of his left handed swing…
Great observations Coach. Yes, the pre-loaded CLS position can be done at the start of the swing (Mick did this for sure on his lefty swing), or the hitter can move into it after the start of the swing. What Lee, my golf instructor friend, highly recommends is strategic finger pressure. Bottom three fingers of the top hand to be as tight as possible before, at, and through impact. This can slow down bat speed, but it allows the synovial fluid in the joints to harden, and transfers impact to the skeleton, not the soft and connective tissues (which disperses energy). It also empowers the hitter with more bat control. This is coming from my own personal experience on Zepp swing experiments.
Great article!!!For this to work the right way, controlled back side to exploding to the the ball, the hands are key… The bottom does its thing but the top does it too… By using the fingers you can get you feet to flatten and your front side to be dead weight for a great snap… So you can channel your energy with great free moving hinges…The fingers have two big time nerves that also get the thigh involved along other things…. ~DM
Im new to all the cues… But I’ve heard “fast hands” but it seems to be used very loosely… But try punching with a closed fist and than try punching with a similar open fist while starting with the pinky… The bottom three fingers spin the hand while the thumb and index finger rotate or are the action… Somewhat? But knowing that is key to fast hands… I’m not sure the baseball people use it that way but ask Anyone who seen Bruce Lee movies if there is such a thing as “fast hands”.. It all ties into the swing being preloaded and coiled… I believe Joey had an article about the bottom and top do there things around the torso… Meaning the top isn’t just hanging on… It’s also active and working with the bottom… sort off… Later Joey thanks for the video…~DM
Question? If your top hand specifically your bottom fingers start loose and you tighten them with the pinky, ring than the middle finger in that order…does that give the batter a lean in… A counter rotation…than what if you used your bottom hand afterwards…
For me it makes a world of difference…Using what seems to be the median and ulnar nerves…it seems like a trigger or information carrier which if trained well just goes and does the job…
Maybe Joey can shed some light with these points either being proper or not… This approach seems to work for me…Any thought Joey? As usual your time and comments are appreciated. Thanks! Later….
~DM
Part of me thinks if your coiled… You can lean and squeeze the top hand bottom 3 fingers in sequence and that makes your front side in a state of “dead weight” or just loose… And that just picks up your lead foot…making it the start of the swing….For me this works, I’m just wondering if it’s my specific stance and muscle memory or is it just how it it’s done…I’m just brainstorming snd trying to add to the conversation…~DM
Djura, interesting observations. The challenge is if we get too involved in creating many small steps to lead up to one big one, I think we lose the broad strokes idea in translation. In other words, we can talk about tightening the top hand pinky, then ring, then middle finger, but to a hitter, I think, this would be TMI. I keep it simple, just squeeze the bottom three of the top hand as soon as the hitter lifts the stride foot. I’m interested in what you saying about the two nerves. What the finger pressure activates is the fascial sheets interconnected throughout the body. It’s also taking the liquid synovial fluid contained in the joints, and making it solid pre- and at impact. This is the difference between the ball feeling like it’s hitting a piece of cement, or a wet pool noodle. Great thoughts as usual brother!
Awesome stuff about being solid… I just called that “getting strong”… Yea, I would assume that teaching some of this can be really difficult… I do think that not only on the start of the stride but even on the back swing and forward swing that the fingers work in a sequence(s). I think it makes the hands faster which helps lag and additionally helps the batter get the barrel connected to the handle as I think that’s key to getting bat speed…Among other things…I do think the nerves in the fingers/forearms activates the thighs which if loaded and coiled can be key to timing…Maybe when I have time I can do some reasearch and give you a better explanation besides my own observations….As far as teaching… I’m clueless and your most likly right that it’s too much info… I told my 7 year old… I just told him to be mindful… Actually I gave him a drill… I told him you have 5 mins… Just swing the bad in a thousands directions and ways… When swinging just use different sequences and notice what the bat does and notice what feels right, wrong, string, weak…I don’t think it’s doing any thing but maybe in a year or too it might who knows… I have no idea how to teach this stuff that is why I’m always looking to you… Happy holidays Joey!!! Later…
Djura, no rush on the research, I’m always up to learn something new. And remember I don’t have all the answers. To summarize an Albert Einstein quote, he said something like, “Make it simple, but not simpler.” There are different learning styles (visual, auditory, kinesthetic), and it may take multiple coaching cues to get your hitter to apply what you’re teaching. I just know from the research that minimal feedback (from us) is better. Not zero feedback…minimal. Because they still need feedback, just not too much. As always, I appreciate what you have to say Djura, and I hope your family has a Happy and safe Holiday season as well 😀
I was think about the hands and nerves since baseball season is around the corner from us here in Florida… One thing I failed to mention is presetting your body (hand grips, shoulder joints, forearms, hip joints, bottom hand-pinkie …etc) will produce varyed results and people having different body types (lower back, pelvis tilts, flexibility …etc.) will also produce varyed results…I think it’s extremely difficult to talk about the particulars of the swing without looking at the bigger picture and how it all the particulars ties in…For example we all look at the torso (.i.e., the core- some say pelvis and lower lumber others the whole…) and additionally leveraging the ground…. All well known!!! But I don’t remembered, Joey correct me if I’m wrong, many people talking about leveraging the body against the bat…If you can move your center of mass using the ground what about using the weight provided by the rod that we swing…and obviously you can manipulate that rid with your fingers.. What say you?
James
I am also noticing his hips lowering before the stride. I’ve been working on trying to clean up my players’ strides and I think this is the key to doing that. In my mind it’s kind of a sink and lean to initiate FoMo. I also notice that Mickey started in a preloaded position of the a CLS in his stance. I have played around with this also and it makes the introduction of the CLS a lot smoother. One other thing that I picked up yesterday while reading the thread with Jim Sullivan where you referenced a golf coach, Lee I think, who advocated a slower swing could result in more distance bc of body positions. Without even seeing the info from the interview, I know and can attest to that info working. While in college circa 1998-2001, in spite of being a prestride guy, I regularly hit balls in the 410-440 range with the old $39 Louisville c243. The one thing I focused a ton on was keeping the barrel slightly behind my hands at contact, which I now believe helped me stay more rigid at Impact so that I could apply more of my 6′ 205 lb frame to the swing masseimilar to your 30mph train vs 60mph motorcycle… sorry for the long post