When I was growing up, before I learned my deep hatred of the San Francisco Giants, I used to have a poster of Will Clark on my bedroom wall. Why? Because as far as I can recall, he was considered to have the prettiest swing around at the time. Graceful looking, very effortless (from what I recall).
I haven’t thought about this in forever, but it dawned on me that I have no idea who has the sweetest swing in today’s game. And of course, what better audience to turn to than all of you? So, two questions, actually:
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Who do you think has today’s sweetest swing?
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Who has/had the sweetest swing of all time?
Ted Williams. Power and high batting average . He did not even take advantage of the Ted Williams Shift.
Ben Grieve. That sounds really stupid but I swear to god.
Ken Griffey Jr. Smooth as butter.
Certainly among active players, Manny Ramirez, whether you like him or not.
Chipper Jones’ left handed swing, but then left handed swings usually look smoother to me anyway. I think Chipper’s is the best though.
Kosuke Fukudome
It’s beautiful the way he’s already half way to the dugout by the time he’s finished striking out.
There’s a promo for one of the local sports network’s baseball coverage that includes a video of Manny Ramirez swining, and it pauses at the moment of contact, then continues. Good God, the man has a beautiful swing. It’s absolutely perfect. No wasted energy. His head is motionless through his swing, his bat kept back, his follow-through perfect. His body position is perfect, his body always vertical and square to the plate. His wrist action is amazing. At the moment of contact he is applying maximum force to the ball with every ounce of strengh he and the 'roids have.
It’s just a beautiful, beautiful swing. I know it’s sacreligious to say this, but it’s as good as Ted Williams’s swing and, dare I say it, maybe better.
There’s a huge difference, of course, between the best swing ever (Babe Ruth) and the most beautiful.
The most beautiful swing I ever saw on a regular basis was Paul Molitor’s.
I love the beautiful swings - Manny, Griffey, Strawberry, Williams, Clark, Van Slyke - but the ones I love the best are the break-the-mold unothodox ones. Rod Carew’s lazy, bat back stance belied the knowledge that every pitcher had knowing he was going to smack the ball somewhere, regardless of the quality of the pitch.
Watching Ichiro raise his average to .360 this weekend gives me the same feeling.
Today It’s Jim Thome. Every Swing, whether Strike or Home Run, could be put on a poster.
Although I love Teddy Ballgame, Griffey’s got the sweetest swing by far.
Manny 100%!!! As Rickjay said, it is beautiful a million times over.
All time? I don’t know enough baseball to make a good answer.
And now…sigh…people will hate me: I don’t like Junior’s swing. It’s very iconic, good to imitate with a bad, but I just don’t see it as all that…pretty. Unique? Yes. His Own? Yup. One that works? Definitely. But pretty? Not for me.
So why is it that lefties are typically considered to have the more graceful swings?
I think it looks smoother when they face right-handed pitchers, which is usually the case.
John Olerud had a really beautiful swing.
I’ll go with Griffey Jr. also, because of his looping, fluid swing. There aren’t any hitches, it’s all circles from start to finish. I think you come to appreciate it more if you pick up a bat and imitate it (which I did for hours and hours as a kid).
I also really like Ichiro’s swing for the difficulty inherent in swinging at a pitch while taking off towards first base. It’s probably the hardest to imitate of them all. And as for form and fundamental perfection, Manny Ramirez and Mike Piazza (I always liked the stillness and balance).