Contact
By ice rivers
- 199 reads
In the game of baseball, bat speed equals power. The most powerful hitters are in the Major Leagues and throughout history, the New York Yankees have always had some of the mightiest bashers from Babe Ruth to Lou Gehrig to Mickey Mantle to Roger Maris to Reggie Jackson to the current day sluggers Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge.
The game has changed over the last decade as major league pitchers routinely throw the ball at a speed of 95 MPH. From the time that the ball leaves the pitchers hand until the player starts his swing is about the same time that it took you to read the above line that began with speed.
Power requires quickness as well as bat speed.
Most of all power requires contact and contact depends upon where on the bat and where on the ball the collision occurred. If contact occurs too far down the bat handle maximum power can not be attained. If contact occurs on the top of the ball even if contact is made with the sweet spot of the bat, the result is likely to be a groundball.
One of my goals as a baseball fan, photographer and writer has always been to capture the moment of contact when a slugger, preferrably a Yankee makes perfect contact at top bat speed on a fastball coming in at ninety five plus miles per hour for homerun that I could write about.
Ten years ago, I captured such a moment.
The batter was Mark Teixera. Tex was the starting first baseman on the last Yankee team to win a World Series. Tex played 14 years in the majors. He won't make the Hall of Fame but he was a star in his day before hurting his back and leaving the game.
My seat was in left field. I had a real good angle on left handed batters. Obviously, you can't snap a picture of every swing of every batter. You've got to have a feeling. I had that feeling. I said to Deke " I think he's gonna hit one."
The count was three balls and one strike. A three and one count is an advantage for the batter .The pitcher had to come in with a good pitch or walk the batter. Mark guessed fastball. I guessed that Mark would guess fastball and uncork. The pitcher felt that he could throw his fastball past Mark. Power against power. Pich placement against power. He went into his windup.
The ball left his hand. I had a feeling. Mark had a feeling. Maybe the pitcher had a feeling. I could see Mark begin his swing. I clicked. Mark connected. The batboy must have been thinking along the same lines that Mark and I were thinking because he's got a grin on his face. A few seconds later the ball landed in the right field seats....the same place where Babe hit 'em.
I was pretty sure that I caught the moment as I stood up and cheered. I high-fived my brother and said "Deke, I think I got that one." I looked at the image and dayum, there it was. I showed Deke and he said "You got it."
Every day in the major leagues somebody hits a homerun. Somebody gets all the guesswork right. I'm not a major leaguer. I'm a minor leaguer and a fan but at that instant, I got it.
I treasure a moment that I will never forget....a moment of contact and connection. Tex connected with the pitch. I connected with Tex connecting with the pitch and my trusty camera had the speed to capture everything.
Home Run Baby!
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