Quote Originally Posted by Commercecomet24 View Post
Exactly! I had both my sons read it too. Launch angle wasn't a thing then but Ted knew in order to lift the ball you had to have slight uppercut. He was way ahead of his time. There's an apocryphal story about him when he was managing the senators. It was spring training and he was asking his hitter if they saw which seams the bat was hitting and they all thought he was crazy. Teds in his 50's at this point so he said i'll show you what i mean. He got in the box, chalked the bat and correctly called 9 out of 10 balls he hit and which seams the bat struck. The man had incredible vision and he knew hitting better than anyone who's ever lived. If he hadn't spent 4 years of his prime career fighting for this country there's absolutely no telling what numbers he would've put up.
My favorite Ted Williams story was in SI, where they did a sit down with him, Boggs, and Mattingly. Ted asked if they ever smelled burning wood on a foul tip. Mattingly said he had a couple of time. Boggs thought they were both making it up.
Williams really should get credit for the Launch Angle approach. But, I think he would be appalled in how it is being applied.