The Making of a Hitter: A Proven and Practical Step-By-Step Baseball Guide

By Jack Perconte

Book Overview

Offering tips for every level of player, from little league to the major leagues, this guide not only shows players how to hit but also shows parents and coaches how to teach hitting. Presenting... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0979356210
• ISBN13: 9780979356216
• Release Date: April 2009
• Publisher: Second Base Publishing
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.0" x 9.7"

Customer Reviews

Insightful and humane, Perconte touches 'em all in fine instructional work

Hitting a baseball with power and precision is one of sports' most difficult tasks. Teaching that skill requires not only technical expertise but an informed heart. Former major-leaguer Jack Perconte understands both the dynamics of hitting and the art of teaching; his insightful and humane "60,000 Hitting Lessons" is much more than a manual on hitting. In fact, "Lessons" deconstructs a hitter's swing and offers important lessons as to how to teach. In this sense, Perconte transforms baseball into larger life lessons. He writes to coaches and parents, never varying in his insistence that dignity, trust and fun are as important as the sweet sound of a bat hitting a pitched ball. Written in an easy-to-understand outline fashion, "Lessons" emphasizes the importance of coaches and parents. Perconte insists "it is important that...parents learn how to communicate with their child in the manner they would like the coach to treat their son or daughter." A capable hitting instructor needs to understand hitting, develop trust, to demonstrate patience, provide homework and challenge his/her clients. "Lessons" includes numerous well-explained and generously illustrated drills designed to develop the skills described in the text. The author has underlined crucial ideas, enabling the reader to remember the most important precepts. One of the greatest strengths of "Lessons" is its awareness of the place of baseball in a child's life. Perconte is adamant in his insistence that young players take time to rest and reflect on what they are learning. It is refreshing to have a hitting instructor actually argue against his own self-interest. Even more rare is an instructor who has the perspective to perceive that sports is but one component to a healthy, balanced life. In the pressure-packed world of competitive youth athletics, it is a pleasure to read the words of a man who places kids first. Like the best hitters in baseball, "60,000 Hitting Lessons" swings and misses in several areas. The book's photographs are amateurish, and the author on occasion is repetitive. Another problem is voice. Perconte cannot decide if it is best for him to have a conversation with the reader or write dispassionately. These minor difficulties, however, do not diminish my respect for the author and his work. Jack Perconte knows baseball and kids; any parent who wishes to improve his or her child's swing will discover that much more will be improved after reading this caring and knowledgeable book.

Exercises to teach the proper mechanics of hitting a ball with power

Ted Williams always claimed that the most difficult thing to do in sports was hitting a baseball. It requires a degree of synchronized and precise body movements where every part of the body is involved. That is why it is also the most exciting participatory act in sports. Although baseball and softball are team sports, when you are up to bat, the game is reduced to a duel between the batter and the pitcher. As a batter, your task is to hit the ball well and it is the job of the pitcher to see that you don't. Fortunately, despite all of the difficulties, hitting a baseball is something that everyone can learn to a level where they can enjoy playing the game. However, it takes quality practice time, where you must learn the proper sequence of movements that will allow you to move the head of the bat through the hitting zone with the right timing and power. This is done via a series of exercises that will wean out the bad practices and make the good practices a natural and unconscious activity. Demonstrating that type of exercise is the point of this book. A large number of photos accompany the explanatory text, demonstrating the right and wrong positions of the body as a swing is taken. While there are a few photos featuring a female, most participants are male. This is unfortunate; the mechanics of hitting a softball is no different than when hitting a baseball and most of the children in the cover photo are female. This book is almost all about mechanics and features a series of drills that will teach good body movements for hitting. In general, they are simple, requiring only a few simple props to execute. I was pleased that Perconte also talks about the joy of the game and how that can be so utterly destroyed by parents who turn winning into the only thing. If you are a baseball (softball) coach or have a son (daughter) who wants to play the game, then this is a book that you will find invaluable. When it comes to hitting, everyone has room for improvement and nearly everyone can learn how to do it so that they can have fun playing baseball (softball) at all but the highest levels.

Touching All The Bases In Art Of Hitting

"See the ball, hit the ball." - Jack Perconte In a major league career from 1980-1986 with the Dodgers, Indians, Mariners and White Sox, infielder Jack Perconte hit a pair of round-trippers. But he smacks one out of the park and into the parking lot with this outstanding book on hitting, coaching and parenting. "My definition of power to most young hitters was made with the question, 'Can you hit a solid ground ball that can get through the infield?'" Perconte says. "If the hitter can consistently do that then they have power." In nearly 20 years Perconte has given around 60,000 lessons for players of all ages and abilities. The 11 chapters and Drills Summary deliver a holistic approach to hitting, with practice tips for players as young as the age of four. "Fundamentals are fundamentals - they don't change from a big leaguer or the little leaguer," Perconte writes. "(Teaching the strike zone) should begin at an early age." He initially discusses bat size, gripping the bat, plate positioning, feet alignment and balance before delving into the complete swing through words and photographs. The most common problems are clearly explained and Perconte includes a wealth of drills that includes the use a hitting tee or multiple tees, a weighted bat, balance beam, towel and a bench, which is aptly called the "timber drill." Perconte says: "Baseball is a game of repetition - challenges and variety erase boredom." For parents and family members, Perconte discusses how to positively support the young player. He provides direction on how to teach, which he focuses on a "Caring Coach," who gives each player a chance to compete well through a variety of games and contests. "Notice I didn't say a knowledgeable coach," Perconte writes. "I've seen players improve tremendously without much instruction just by being challenged by a coach who cares. "Leaving the game for playing and using practices for coaching is one of the keys to having focused players." A latter section on the mental aspect is a vital tool for coaches of older players. Perconte mentions a tennis book, probably Tim Gallway's The Inner Game of Tennis, that actually helped him with focus at the plate while playing pro ball. "The game wasn't designed so the pitcher can throw the ball by you," he says, "so stay back and trust your swing." 60,000 Hitting Lessons: A Hands on Baseball Guide for Parents, Coaches & Players is truly a hands-on guide which could be used by a team during practices throughout a season or as a means for parents to guide themselves and their child in the life-skills of positive education. "Knowledge creates confidence - the good coach is the knowledge creator," Perconte writes. "We had a rule at our camps that the only players who could yell at a fellow camper were the players who had never made an error or never struck out before. "That usually would quiet up the players and keep them accountable for their own play and not criticizing everybody else's play." T