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    Don Mattingly's Hitting Is Simple: The ABC's of Batting .300
    Don Mattingly's Hitting Is Simple: The ABC's of Batting .300
    Don Mattingly's Hitting Is Simple: The ABC's of Batting .300
    Ebook214 pages1 hour

    Don Mattingly's Hitting Is Simple: The ABC's of Batting .300

    By Jim Rosenthal, Don Mattingly, Rod Carew and

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    About this ebook

    Don Mattingly's Hitting is Simple: The ABC's of Batting .300 presents an all-ages guide to hitting a baseball by one of the Yankee greats--which covers stance, proper balance and coverage of the strike zone to the mechanics of a fluid swing

    Don Mattingly was one of the greatest offensive ballplayers of his generation. In 1985 he was the American League MVP and Player of the Year--a nine-time gold glove winner, a batting champion, and six-time all-star. He remains today one of the most beloved Yankee first basemen of all-time. Now as manager for the Miami Marlins and former hitting instructor for the most successful sports franchise in history, he offers solid advice and instruction for young athletes around the world on how to hit a baseball.

    With instructional photos throughout, and careful step-by-step instruction, Don Mattingly's Hitting Is Simple: The ABC's of Batting .300 covers all the fundamentals:
    *proper balance and stance
    *the mechanics of a sound swing
    *reading pitchers and pitches
    *how to hit to all fields
    *drills to improve your timing

    This all-ages guide to hitting a baseball by one of the Yankee greats is sure to become one of the most definitive books on hitting in years.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateApr 8, 2014
    ISBN9781466867758
    Don Mattingly's Hitting Is Simple: The ABC's of Batting .300
    Author

    Jim Rosenthal

    JIM ROSENTHAL is the author or co-author of several books, including Ichiro's Art of Playing Baseball, Randy Johnson's Power Pitching, Leo Mazzone's Pitch Like a Pro, Tony Gwynn's Total Baseball Player, Nolan Ryan's Pitcher's Bible, and Kiana's Bodysculpting.

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      Book preview

      Don Mattingly's Hitting Is Simple - Jim Rosenthal

      DON MATTINGLY’S

      HITTING

      IS SIMPLE

      The ABC’s of Batting .300

      DON MATTINGLY and JIM ROSENTHAL

      With Photos by Tom DiPace

      The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way. Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the author’s copyright, please notify the publisher at: us.macmillanusa.com/piracy.

      CONTENTS

      Copyright Notice

      Acknowledgments

      Foreword by Rod Carew

      Preface by Joe Torre

      Introduction by Don Mattingly

      1

      The Foundation of Hitting

      2

      Bats and Grips and Gloves

      3

      Hard Work Breeds Success

      4

      Getting Better with Experience

      5

      Batting Drills for Hitting .300

      6

      My Advice on Coaching Kids

      7

      Great Hitting Makes for a Great Game

      Photo Gallery

      Appendix

      Batting Glossary

      Miscellaneous Baseball History

      Name Index

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      Special thanks to Ray Schulte and Kate Manchester at Ironclad Authentics—without their hard work and support this book could not have become a reality. Thanks to Tom DiPace, a great photographer and collaborator. Michael Homier and George Witte at St. Martin’s always believed in this book, and for that the authors are much appreciative.

      FOREWORD

      Ilove to hit. I always have. Even now, more than twenty years after my 3,000th hit, I love to take a ball pitched to the outside part of the plate and lace it down the third baseline. And as easy as hitting sometimes appeared to be for me, I always get a laugh when people say I was a natural hitter. There is no such thing as a natural hitter. Sure, nature does play a part, but there is more nurture involved than there is nature.

      No one understands this better than Don Mattingly. I was fortunate enough to meet Don when he was just coming up as a young player, and am happy to still consider him a friend. He has graciously credited me with being a positive influence on him, both as a hitter and as a model for how to comport yourself on and off the field. For that, I am honored.

      Don and I have talked about hitting for hours. From those conversations I have come to know both the level and depth of Don’s understanding of how to hit, and how to teach hitting. Don knows there is no magic bullet to being a good hitter. He knows that different situations in a game demand different approaches to hitting. For that very reason, you never saw Don Mattingly get himself out, or give away an at bat. Don understood that as personal as hitting is, sometimes it was more important to give yourself up to move a runner over than it was to selfishly try and be a hero. That’s why he was a great hitter.

      Don hated making an out, and he worked tirelessly to do everything possible to avoid making outs. Read his words carefully. Hear what he has to say. Practice what he preaches. He’s accomplished everything in the batter’s box that any player could ever hope to accomplish. Now it’s your turn. Work hard and good luck.

      —Rod Carew

      www.Rodcarew29.com

      Preface

      There is no better teacher of hitting than Don Mattingly. He has the information, intelligence, experience, and passion to give players—at all levels—what they need to be successful. When Don made the decision to coach at the major-league level for the New York Yankees I knew he’d be outstanding. He is very energetic. He has no problem handling an enormous workload. There’s no limit on what he wants to learn and how he is able to communicate with the players. He would make a great major-league manager right now. He has no problem with the fear of failing—that’s not even part of his vocabulary. Don has a fire burning inside of him to be the best, and to help others achieve their personal best. Don is always there for his players. And believe me, players in the big leagues right now demand so much more from their coaches because of the information that we get for them.

      Don has at his fingertips all the information our players need: what a pitcher is likely to throw when he’s ahead or behind in the count, his tendencies and patterns to try to get hitters out. But Don’s value to the Yankees goes way beyond his teaching skills and value as a hitting coach. His personality is so good. It’s almost like Donnie is still a player, to be honest, and that ability to banter with guys like Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada and Jason Giambi is an invaluable asset to me as a manager. Whatever your goals in baseball, Don Mattingly is the perfect source of information to get you headed in the right direction.

      —Joe Torre

      Yankee Stadium

      August 2006

      INTRODUCTION

      My goal in writing this book is to help you to become a better hitter with simple, basic, and useful information. I’m not a hitting guru who claims to have all the answers. I’m just a hitting coach who has some good ideas and hands-on drills to help you to improve and to make steady progress. There are a lot of coaches with good information. But the learning process can get very complicated. I’m here to make life as simple as possible. The information in this book is a foundation to keep you focused on getting better through hard work and sound mechanics. Enjoy hitting and playing baseball to the best of your ability. Believe in yourself and be sure to have fun along the way.

      The single most important part of becoming a good hitter—or even a great hitter—is saying to yourself before you step into the batter’s box: I’m going to get a hit against this pitcher. I’m not going to pull away from the ball. I will not be afraid. I will stay in there and put the bat on the ball. He is not getting me out or keeping me from hitting the ball hard somewhere.

      All the mechanics and drills are secondary to you making this statement in your mind—I can and I will get a hit against this pitcher! If you want to take it to the next level, you must have this approach.

      This is the one part

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