babe ruth

Why can't any modern player hit a ball as high or as far as Babe Ruth
did? What was his secret?

In article <bmprd3$4jk@library1.airnews.net>,
"dustbird" <dustbird@cross.wind> wrote:

> Why can't any modern player hit a ball as high or as far as Babe Ruth
> did? What was his secret?

Really really strong.

But I'd put a lot of McGwire's HRs up against anybody else's, including
Ruth's.

--
JD

"I see great things in baseball. It's our game, the American game.
It will repair our losses and be a blessing to us."-- Walt Whitman

"Jeanne Douglas" <hlwdjsd@STOPSPAMpacbell.net> wrote in message
news:hlwdjsd-55C9F4.20013917102003@news.la.sbcglobal.net...
> In article <bmprd3$4jk@library1.airnews.net>,
> "dustbird" <dustbird@cross.wind> wrote:
>
> > Why can't any modern player hit a ball as high or as far as Babe Ruth
> > did? What was his secret?
>
> Really really strong.
>
> But I'd put a lot of McGwire's HRs up against anybody else's, including
> Ruth's.

Oh, gosh, no. McGwire just barely plinked his homeruns over the fence,
whereas Babe Ruth smashed his home runs intothe upper deck.
I haven't see any fils of Babe Ruth for a while, but my memory is that
his swing economized motion. His body hardly moved from the vertical, and
most of his power seemed to be in his wrists. Of course, he had a very good
eye. I was watching some of the baseball players in the current world
series, and so many seem to be off balance when they hit. Some seem to be
falling all over themselves. One winds up with his back to the plate when
his swing is finished.
But I think a team should be coached just to make hits, to "hit 'em
where they ain't,": as Ty Cobb advised. Maybe the best example of this is
the Yankee's Jeeter. Anyone who hits a home run, even by accident, should be
fined $10,000.
I also wonder if today's players are as good as yesterdays? In the
Thursday game, I saw some errors that looked liked grade school baseball
errors. And as for baserunning, I have never seen anyone as good as Jackie
Robinson. He is the only player I recall who could regularly outrun a
pick-off play, stealing from second to third.