~History of Revolution~
(1) Pre Babe Ruth era (before the early 1900s)
(1) Pre Babe Ruth era (before the early 1900s)
In the initial period of baseball history, it seems that hitters had been trying just to contact pitches to hit strong line drives. In fact, as far as I see old materials, they seemed to have small stride and small backswing. Therefore, this period had not outstanding sluggers who produced large amount of home runs like Babe Ruth. Probably, a hitting mechanics like that of Joe DiMaggio had already been common in this period. Movie1-7 shows the examples of hitting mechanics that probably were common in those days.
(2) Post Babe Ruth era (after 1914)
Figure10: Babe Ruth (Movie1-8)
Babe Ruth made a revolution in the evolutional history of hitting
mechanics with his own mechanics that had large stride and dynamic
weight transfer. He proved that weight transfer can be a driving
force of power hitting.
After his debut, many sluggers who had long stride like him made
their debut in MLB, such as Jimmie Foxx, Stan Musial, Hank Aaron,
and Willie Mays. Of course, there also were hitters who had small
stride like Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams — they still should be the
majority in MLB. Anyway, the mainstream belief on hitting skills in
those days was apparently based on swinger-type mechanics that
uses weight transfer and body rotation as its driving force. Movie1-9
shows hitters in this period.
(3) A Difficult time for hitters (from about the 70s to 80s)
During from about the 1970s to 1980s, pitching mechanics evolved
before hitting mechanics. Since hitters came to be required to adapt
themselves to various pitches, more and more hitters and instructors
came to prefer compact hitting mechanics. However, since they tried
to make their hitting mechanics compact without changing their core
mechanics of swinger type, power hitters became difficult to emerge
in this period. In fact, this period had not so many home run hitters.
Mike Schmidt, George Brett, Reggie Jackson, and Eddie Murray were
prominent hitters in this period. This circumstance continued until the
early 90s when Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr. made their debut.
Movie1-10 shows hitters in this period.
Figure11: George Brett, Mike Schmidt, Reggie Jackson. Reggie
Jackson was a pioneer of modern, puncher-type mechanics.
(4)Breakthrough in the early 90s
During from the late 80s to early 90s, puncher type started prevailing in MLB like a revolution, probably triggered by Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, who played for Athletics' golden age in the late 80s. The first time we saw visible results of the revolution was the early 90s. In those years, so many sluggers who had the ability to hit over 40 home runs emerged one after another, such as Frank Thomas, Ken Griffey Jr., Barry Bonds, Juan Gonzalez, Cecil Fielder, Albert Belle, Ken Caminiti, and Mike Piazza — all of these hitters are classified into puncher type.
The spread of banned drugs and the inflow of lower level pitchers due to MLB's expansion were not the only reasons of increase in single-season home run numbers. There certainly was a revolutionary change of hitting skills. In this period, hitting skills caught up with and overtook pitching skills that already had experienced a revolutionary change. A movie "Baseball's Hottest Stars" is clearly depicting the circumstances of MLB in the vortex of the "Hitting Revolution".
Figure12: Sluggers in the early 90s (movie1-11)
(4)Breakthrough in the early 90s
During from the late 80s to early 90s, puncher type started prevailing in MLB like a revolution, probably triggered by Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, who played for Athletics' golden age in the late 80s. The first time we saw visible results of the revolution was the early 90s. In those years, so many sluggers who had the ability to hit over 40 home runs emerged one after another, such as Frank Thomas, Ken Griffey Jr., Barry Bonds, Juan Gonzalez, Cecil Fielder, Albert Belle, Ken Caminiti, and Mike Piazza — all of these hitters are classified into puncher type.
The spread of banned drugs and the inflow of lower level pitchers due to MLB's expansion were not the only reasons of increase in single-season home run numbers. There certainly was a revolutionary change of hitting skills. In this period, hitting skills caught up with and overtook pitching skills that already had experienced a revolutionary change. A movie "Baseball's Hottest Stars" is clearly depicting the circumstances of MLB in the vortex of the "Hitting Revolution".
Figure12: Sluggers in the early 90s (movie1-11)
(5)Post revolution era ~ After the 2000s ~
Introduction of stricter doping test contributed to decrease in the number of single-season home runs (as of 2015). However, doping tests are not the only reason of that decrease — pitching skills evolved again in this period. More and more pitchers came to throw various moving balls and tremendous fastballs, with their pitching mechanics becoming more compact and quick. It means the average level of pitching skills have caught up with that of hitting skills again. Now is the time when each of pitchers and batters have high-quality mechanics equally.
Post revolution era players: Pedro Martinez, Justin Verlander, David Price, Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, David Ortiz.
Introduction of stricter doping test contributed to decrease in the number of single-season home runs (as of 2015). However, doping tests are not the only reason of that decrease — pitching skills evolved again in this period. More and more pitchers came to throw various moving balls and tremendous fastballs, with their pitching mechanics becoming more compact and quick. It means the average level of pitching skills have caught up with that of hitting skills again. Now is the time when each of pitchers and batters have high-quality mechanics equally.
Post revolution era players: Pedro Martinez, Justin Verlander, David Price, Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, David Ortiz.
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