Babe Ruth batting stance?

[timn1]

Hopefully not too OT…

I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube colorized footage of mlb in the early 20th century. Of course Ruth appears quite a bit. Has anybody else noticed that he has a really extreme approach to hitting where he “runs up” as the ball is delivered?

Watch him and then watch some Gehrig footage. Lou stays pretty stationary and uses that phenomenal lower body development, more Like a slugger of recent eras.

But Ruth ! It’s amazing to me that he could meet the ball on the nose as much as he is moving. He supposedly had very spindly legs relative to his upper body strength, and I guess his hand-eye coordination was at an almost impossible level.

I've attached some links below

[Lucas00]

I always thought babes stance was pretty normal for how crazy it looked. By the time anything really crazy happens with his legs he already hit the ball, I think it was just a balance thing swinging so hard with a heavy bat.

[packs]

There isn't much footage out there of anything like a full Cobb at bat, but from the rare footage I have seen of him in the box waiting for a pitch, he looked like a real menace up there. Lots of movement and his hands wringing around the handle, spread apart. He must have been incredible to watch.

[Arazi4442]

Originally Posted by Lucas00

I always thought babes stance was pretty normal for how crazy it looked. By the time anything really crazy happens with his legs he already hit the ball, I think it was just a balance thing swinging so hard with a heavy bat.

Lol, he looks like Scottie Scheffler the way his feet are doing goofy stuff after contact

[timn1]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Uuj1Hyhl0k

In this one, the commentator compares Ruth's and Gehrig's swings, and Ruth's movement doesn't look that extreme, but what I find interesting is that at 1:45 he refers to Ruth's approach as being like a "running start," and that's what I was reacting to. I'll look around some more and see if I can find and post a better example of it -

Tim

Also here at 3:37-5:59
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21FQUxM03zg

Check this footage from 1920 - the forward stride is really a couple of separate steps. I feel like I saw one even more exaggerated than this one, but can't find it now. Maybe his swing motion got a little quieter as his career went on.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/663128746139740

[ThomasL]

Babe Ruth is on record saying he modeled his batting stance after Joe Jackson who he considered the best power hitter at the time Ruth came into the league. You can see they are very similar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3sorDUSzss

[ThomasL]

Here are pics of Joe Jackson's hands and feet for his batting stance which Ruth copied

[ThomasL]

1935 article mentioning Ruth/Jackson stance