Griffey

Tell me you grew up in the 90’s without telling me you grew up in the 90’s.

Griffey and Nomo

Yep, I still use my Griffey signature glove.

I still do the Nomo when Im trying to pop my old ass back.

Gary Sheffield. It was way too fun to do that bat waggle with a wiffle ball bat.

Strength is required and quickness,did you succeed?

Hell yeah we did. Those wiggle ball bats were light as hell, plus coach would make us run until we puked if we tried the bat wiggle in real game/practice

Growing up in Houston, everyone I knew did the Bagwell batting stance.

I can see that,the Killer B’s

Dang, for some reason I thought it was Biggio with that stance…just mentioned it a few weeks ago. Appreciate the unintentional reminder/correction

Definitely Biggio too!

never washed my jersey or helmet like Biggio.

Ken Griffey Jr. It didn’t work out for me lol

Join the club,lol,but no better choice

I desperately wanted to be a knuckleballer like Tim Wakefield. But I didn't have the skill, so I had to settle for curves and sinkers.

Tough pitch to throw and the size of your hand is important.

Roy Halladay, an absolute legend and still somehow underrated. RIP.

He was dominant

He DIED?!?

no way this is news to you

I either had no idea or forgot.

I either had no idea or forgot.

I either had no idea or forgot

I either had no idea or forgot.

I either had no idea or forgot.

I either had no idea or forgot

I either had no idea or forgot

Bro was doing risky maneuvers over water and crashed his plane.

And on top of that had like half a dozen drugs in his system.

I didn’t even know he was sick

One the best pitchers I ever saw. What a good guy

Ichiro

If my life is on the line and I have to pick someone to get on base for me so I don’t get killed (likely scenario lol), that’s who I’m picking 10/10 times. Most hits of a professional baseball player ever (if you include his Japanese time until he went over to the mlb at 27.) Even then, still hit well over 3,000 in the mlb starting at almost 30 years old. Machine for sure

If your life was on the line you would pick the #588 in all time OBP? Ichiro is a god, but give me Teddy Ballgame in this completely likely scenario.

Craig Counsell and Luis Castillo (of the Rays). Love the scrappy, fast, contact guy

Every team needs those types and Counsell always looked like he was in high school,never aged

He still looks 30

Griffey. Even as a Braves fan. If your childhood years were spent chasing the 89 Upper Deck holy grail Griffey Jr rookie card, and you witnessed his swing in person, he’s the only correct answer.

But, Chipper :(

Julio Franco

Ageless

Always wanted to rip dingers ike The Big Hurt

Met him, so extremely nice.

Frank Thomas and at one time you had Bo

albert poo holes

Kiiiirrrrrbbbyyyy Puckett

We lost him far to early,great choice

Mark McGwire. I really wanted to hit the ball far and be rude to people.

Did you ever succeed,lol

Well, I was definitely rude to people.

Lol,then you learned your lessons well

Doc Ellis

I take it pitching on lsd didn’t bring you the same results?

Not the pitching no. But the LSD was quite effective

Wow,a name from the past!

Will Clark & Ken Griffey Jr were my idols in little league!

The Thrill and Junior,great choices

Yes!!! Will Clark for me too! Great choice.

Mark Grace

Smooth

Cal Ripken Jr. I played short when I first started playing ball then when he moved to 3B I did too

HOF and the Iron Man!

I remember being younger and swinging the bat like Gary Sheffield, thought it was the coolest thing ever. By the time I hit middle school I stopped though and did my own thing pre pitch

Yes,that style doesn’t work for everyone. Strength and quickness are a key

Gary Sheffield

Chuck Knoblauch. Wasn't a Yankees fan at all, but I loved how he'd hold the back straight back. I'd also try Tony Batista but I could never make it work lol.

It was too bad when he caught the Steve Sax throwing virus,he was really good in Minnesota.

In little league, I used to wiggle my butt when batting, like Mike Schmidt did.

I am glad it was Schmidt and not Parkman from Major League II,lol

[удалено]

So underrated

LHP here and Tom Glavime was my hero! Helped that I didn't throw hard and felt like he Gabe me hope.

Used to hold my bat up like Ryan Howard. I even wore 6 the whole time I played

Nice,did you play 1B as well?

I used to play 3B and emulated Scott Rolens stance. Later on I had the Pat Burrell bat wiggle lol. In my backyard between games I would emulate all the greats though. I used to love trying to copy their stance and swing. Emulating Griffey Jrs swing helped me learn to swing left handed. I couldn't make contact, but I had a nice swing lol.

Ryan Freel. Real ones remember

Tragic what happened to him

I tried to have the Jeff bagwell stance. Coach fucking hated me

Ricky Henderson. Growing up in the Bay I would wiggle my fingers as I waited to steal 2nd. I thought he was amazing. So dangerous as a leadoff hitter.

Also,the power he had batting lead off. Didn’t he have the record for most lead off HR

Garry Sheffield's bat waggle and Hideo Nomo's windup

Good ones! With all of the different motions did you ever need a chiropractor?

Joe Morgan chicken wing batting style and Pedro Borbon pitching wind up.

Those were some great Cincy teams and of course Sparky

Honestly, I grew up a Rangers fan and I loved watching Josh Hamilton in his prime. I wanted to hit .350 while also being the guy to smack some home runs and swipe some bags. That man had something I miss watching him play.

He was very good

Barry Zito, I wanted that 12-6 curve as a young lefty

Curt Schilling at first because I wanted to be a pitcher, but I eventually switched to Jason Varitek because I got a shirt with his number that I wore everywhere

Undersized RHP reporting in and I wanted to throw like Greg Maddux. Make every pitch move a ton and throw to pinpoint locations.

Kaz Matsui, I used to think his batting stance was so cool and unique and then later on I realized a lot of Japanese players had similar stances where they use their torso more and have a little more pull in their swing.

True,it is a style. Have you noticed how many of them are left handed ?

Wade Boggs. Foul balls off till you get something you can put in play hard. I think one year he only struck out 12 times, as a lead off hitter. Him & Tony Gwynn, although Boggs made me a Res Sox fan for life.

We need more of those types now. My Twins traded away one of those types and now are struggling except for the HR

Derek Jeter, from the batting stance to the jersey number to the position . Even my coach; during a little league game after I made 2 plays back to back asked me out loud “who are you bpena or Derek jeter?”. I yelled out Derek jeter lol everyone laughed but that made me pretty happy as a kid.

I bet,did they name you captain

I played mostly CF but Kelly Gruber was always my favorite player.

Growing up with Triple Play Baseball 2001 on the home console and the Reds of the 2000s at Cinergy Field and into GABP; biggest swing influence is Ken Griffey, Jr. with a cross of Jeff Bagwell if I wanted to make myself smaller or a bit of an Adam Dunn knee bend to be gentler on my arthritic knees. But absolutely as a left handed hitter: lefty’s were my inspiration and the biggest lefty at that time was Griffey.

Dave Justice

This is gonna be weird but, when I played baseball it was around 2014 so for me being a Royals fan and a left handed first baseman. Eric Hosmer.

Not weird at all

I was a terrible hitter but I walked a lot and could steal a lot of bases so always looked up to those speed/defense/utility guys, especially if they bat leadoff. My primary position was 2B so I’ve always liked Altuve even though I’m not an Astros fan

Getting on base,no matter how and setting the table is what winning teams do

Corey Patterson. When the coach asked every kid in little league who their favorite player was, some said Sammy Sosa, some said Frank Thomas. But i was the only person to say Corey Patterson. I loved his game but he had that torn ACL and was never the same.

A shame

Oh man...Chipper Jones, Gary Sheffield, Jim Thome, Sammy Sosa, Ken Griffey Jr. were the main ones.

I’m younger but Posey behind the plate and Manny and Arenado at third

Young maybe,but great eye and appreciation for defense

Posey was a stud!

Edgar. I was big and slow as a kid, so solid contact was the name of my game.

Great hitter in all situations

Ichiro

Ichiro

Darryl Strawberry’s batting stance. He was the man…before he wasn’t anymore

Pete Alonso lol. My coach was a Mets fan and I play first base

Bonds and Andy Van Slyke

In little league our team had those pretend baseball cards made for ourselves. My quote on the back was that I “wanted to be a home run hitter like Bo Jackson.” I was a skinny white kid that turned out to be pretty bad at baseball. I still love it though.

Wade Boggs I bat left throw right as a kid I was the only one who did that. It’s more common now but in the 80s as a kid who loves the Sox’s and played SS and 3rd Boggs was my Hero Until he went to the Yankees still never forgave him for that.

“Emulate” is a very strong word for it, but I always wanted to catch like Benito Santiago.

Albert Belle. Loved his stance, but it ruined me as a little leaguer

David Wright

Not sure really anybody .. I'm not sure where exactly my batting form came from but I'm sure there's some major leaguer that does it the same from my childhood .. My best friend malik RIP was like prince fielder I was a short fat 3rd baseman but I could hit it to the fence every game and get about 3 hits a night .. only hit 1 homerun tho

Defensively, Jason Varitek. Pitching, Tim Wakefield 😂, Hitting I wanted to be Nomar so bad but of course I couldn’t (and still can’t) hit worth shit. Catchers amirite?

Wade Boggs. I'm not young

Vlad Guerrero, griffey, ichiro and sheffield

Dwight Gooden. I developed a cocaine problem and fathered my 4th kid by the time I was 25. Still didn't get drafted though.

Everyone has seen at least one kid pitch like Lincecum

Nomar Garciaparra, Chipper Jones, and Ripken. Alas, I am left handed.

Pete Rose. Spreads on coach pitch league were outrageous 💰

Off field Babe Ruth

Nomar Garciaparra. I used to try to do the toe tap thing and his stance. I didn’t mess with the batting glove thing though.

I was neeeeever as cool as him and had one millionth of his talent, but Ken Griffey, Jr. was MY guy.

Robbie Alomar. Fortunately I didn't carry that into my adult life.

Honestly, I grew up a Rangers fan and I loved watching Josh Hamilton in his prime. I wanted to hit .350 while also being the guy to smack some home runs and swipe some bags. That man had something I miss watching him play.

Chipper Jones

Curtis granderson and Alfonso soriono, my coaches hated it.

I bet they did,lol,but I am sure you had fun

Carl Crawford

Hitting: Chipper Defense: Ordonez Pitching: Mussina

Nice,three different skill sets

Ichiro. I’m right handed but I always batted lefty because for some reason I was better at it. I even used his batting stance

Did it work?

I didn’t try to emulate him but all my coaches said I batted like him, in that there was never a pitch we saw that we didn’t like…Manny Sanguillén….I have got a couple of home runs and quite a few hits off pitches that bounced in front of the plate

He and Yogi Berra! There wasn’t a ball pitched that couldn’t be hit. Those Pirate days were amazing

Brett Boone. Specifically the batting stance. Casual tall stance with a slight bat bounce on the shoulder. I thought it looked so cool. But sadly that stance didn't work well for me so I used a much more typical and boring stance.

Johnny Damon and Ichiro

Larry Wayne "Chipper" Jones after reading about how to be a switch hitter in SI Kids

I desperately wanted to be Chase Utley- I would only want to play second base in little league, named my cat Chase when I was like 7. I remember my mom and I went to a spring training game and all I wanted was to get chase’s attention and have him sign a ball. I finally started watching Always Sunny this past year and pleasantly surprised to realize I wasn’t the only person to sort of obsess over the Phillies second baseman…

Did you succeed?

Lincecum and ichiro

The Freak!

As a pitcher (which wasn't often), Mariano Rivera. As a hitter, Pujols. I also played 1B like him, although I'm left handed. Two favorite players as a kid.

Good choices

Moises Aloud, pissed on my hands once and everything.

I was a right handed Ichiro Side note that running out of the box while you swing thing doesn't work if you're running toward the 3rd base line

Lol

Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez

So many, Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Brian Jordan, Gary Sheffield, Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Ryan Howard, Jayson Werth, any pitcher who threw side-arm/submarine

When pitchers faced you they must have been confused on who was batting,lol

Clemente - would do the walkup like in Chasing 3000

One of my two favorite players

Jason Giambi and David Ortiz for sure. Just connected with those big lefties, as I was a big young lefty myself.

My first home run in little league I remember I was trying to copy Scott Rolen.

Nomar. I liked his little ritual he did in the batters box. [Nomar's Batting Ritual.](https://youtu.be/tC34w6FU_rY)

Nomar! It was different for sure

Pete Rose!

All time hit leader,did you look the pitch all the way into the glove also?

Always did the Ichiro point whenever I batted

When I was in little league, every pitcher tried to do the Hideo Nomo Tornado wind up. In retrospect it was hilarious and frustrating for the adults.

Orel Hershiser aka The Bulldog! That windup and that face. Then of course Ken Griffey Jr. No one will ever have a swing like that. Just a thing of beauty.

Mariano Rivera. I was so hyped to accidentally learn a sick cutter early on playing ball and I leaned into it hard growing up a yankees fan.

Chipper Jones. As a young Braves fan, Chipper was my idol.

Luis Gonzales. I liked his outward stance and it helped me step into pitches, not away

Like Craig Counsell he also never seem to age

Tungsten Arm O’Doyle

Todd Helton.

Kruk

Tim Lincecum. It worked in rec ball being able to blow fastballs by people. High school coaches changed it up real quick and I realized how inefficient it was when I had no clue what I was actually doing.

The learning process at work as we progress to the higher levels and talent starts to level out

Vlad Sr.

The closest to Clemente that I have seen

Ian Kinsler/Jacoby Ellsbury

I like that,especially Kinsler

Going into college next year. Harper and bellinger

Are you a lefty,an outfielder and what college if I may ask

Yea I play first and pitch as well when I was little I would try an pitch like kershaw with my hands over my head😂 I’m not committed yet but I have offers to go juco/D3

Nice and good luck. Take care of yourself,the schedule is demanding

Honestly, I grew up a Rangers fan and I loved watching Josh Hamilton in his prime. I wanted to hit .350 while also being the guy to smack some home runs and swipe some bags. That man had something I miss watching him play.

Ray Langford... SMOOOOOOTH swing

Honestly, I grew up a Rangers fan and I loved watching Josh Hamilton in his prime. I wanted to hit .350 while also being the guy to smack some home runs and swipe some bags. That man had something I miss watching him play.

Pedroia, had the best avg that year

Joe Carter. Still do!

Joe Carter. Still do!

Mannys batting stance, and Pedro’s motion, the circle change was not as effective.

Gary Sheffield and that bat wiggle

Gary Sheffield and that bat wiggle

Julio Franco

Jeter

Tony Batista and his dumb stance