The Best Swingers

So who has the best swings these days, some like Ichiro, or Pujols, or Morneau, or maybe Adam Lind ??

Later on I will tell you my top 5 current day players who I think have the sweetest swings, but first, the ALL TIME sweetest swings (and thanks to file footage, youtube, Ken Burns, and other videos I have seen in 40 years plus, my top 20 swingers).

#20 JOHNNY OLERUD , played for the Blue Jays and the Mets. I saw his excellent swing win a batting title here in Toronto, and so he makes my list as having the best swing of any Blue Jay I have seen play.

#19 ROBERTO CLEMENTE , who finished his career with exactly 3000 hits, could have hit 40 homers every year, but he preferred to hit line drives to the gaps, and to spray the ball to all fields.

#18 WADE BOGGS , primarily a singles hitter, but he could inside out a pitch and drive it to the opposite field, and had a great level swing and what a beautiful follow through.

#17 ROD CAREW, another sweet swing and he could do it in such a way that you thought the bat was an extension of his body, it was that effortless to watch.

#16 FRANK ROBINSON, and Frank could elevate the ball fairly well, hence the 500 plus long balls. Was an MVP in both leagues with Cincy and Baltimore. Not sure ever why Cincy dealt him for Milt Pappas, that was a bad one. His swing looked like the bat was skimming the surface of the water.

#15 KIRBY PUCKETT, now I really wish he would have stopped trying for those long balls in Minny, but the park seemed to play for power, by Kirby could just rake it. watch it in slow mo, and you appreciate all the elements equally.

#14 PAUL O'NEILL, here I am sure I can hear the dissing from the public, but you just have to watch his bat move through the swinging motion, the quick wrist action, his velocity, but his ease of meeting the ball where it pitched. A real treat, unless you hated the Yankees, then it was poison.

#13 CARNEY LANSFORD, another contemporary age hitter, but ageless, staying back with his hands, and turned on the ball when it approached the zone. He was another like Puckett who tried to start hitting long bombs, but could find another gear if the pitcher was tyring to ramp up a fastball. Ask Nolan Ryan, he could never fool Lansford.

#12 LOU GEHRIG, the big man, the Iron Horse. Well he did not stay in the lineup for his defence at 1st base. Gehrig was a big strong hitter, but his swing was that of someone with immense bat control, but one with great power. A classic hitter.

#11 PAUL MOLITOR, we saw him here in Toronto for a few seasons, and he always amazed me with his swing, able to keep it a very compact, uncomplicated , precise as a a swiss clock, and able to hit any pitch he could reach. Those strong wrists of Molitor enabled him to bring his bat through and find success.

#10 GEORGE BRETT , I guess many will remember his assault at .400, like Ichiro's, or even Puckett's attempt. Just watching him in the on deck circle, he was perfection. He could hit the big fly, but his swing was aided by Charlie Lau's hitting acumen.

#9 WILLIE MAYS , the Say Hey kid could take it anyway you pitched it, and could keep that swing nice and tight, keeping his hands back until he uncoiled his bat and delivered his blow.

#8 HANK AARON, quickest wrists I ever watched play the game, and I could run out of the proper adjectives to describe how wonderful his swing was, magic.

#7 ROGERS HORNSBY, just based on my few glimpses of his swing, we know he hit.400 a few times, I am shocked with his swing, he did not hit.500. There was a story of a young pitcher who faced HORNSBY, and fed what appeared to be good very good pitches, so I suppose he must have looked at home plate empire Bill Clem with disbelief, and then Clem said to the catcher and the pitcher "Mr.Hornsby will tell you when you've thrown a strike".

#6 JOE JACKSON, despite all the scandal talk, this guy hit over .300 in that 1919 World Series, and simply was born to swing a bat. Babe Ruth was said to have copied his swing, not bad Babe.

#5 MICKEY MANTLE, c'mon, this guy swung that well from both sides of the plate, and would have hit for a higher career average, if his knees had been healthier, would have legged out more hits. He had raw power, but a truly majestic stroke.

#4 TONY GWYNN, boy oh boy, you just have to watch Tony's bat explode through destroying perfect pitches, not trying to kill the ball , just sending ever so deftly off into the outfield, or like a frozen rope. to know his sweet swing was rooted in excellence. How can there be 3 better swingers !!

#3 STAN MUSIAL , another switch hitter who like MANTLE could bring the bat head in such precision, he hit the same amount of hits from both sides of the plate. I have seen his swing broken down on ESPN's Sports Science, his dead still, the bat is a magic wand for the long time Cardinal.

# 2 JOE DIMAGGIO , the kid from San Francisco could not only belt the ball, but his swing detonated the ball through the infield, driving the ball. He could hit singles or doubles in his sleep. No one was better, except for the next guy.

#1 TED WILLIAMS, like the song says, "simply the best". Nobody studied the way to hit a ball more, and no won spent more hours refining his craft, hard to believe he lost 4 years to the war when he was at his peak in the early 1950's. Last hit before retiring at age 42, was a home run in Fenway Park. He is the best there ever has been , the best hitter with swing.

Now of course there are those who wonder where Ruth, , Rose, Kaline, Mel Ott, even Josh Gibson, or Cool Papa Bell, but the 1st 3 names had good swings, but Ruth had this upper cut swing which he used to generate power, Kaline would have been # 21, and the same goes for Pete Rose.

Now I promised the best current 5 swingers, and I hinted at 2 of them, Ichiro and Pujols are 2, the other 3 are Hanley Ramirez, plus Jeter and Joe Mauer.

Enjoy !