Okay, so today I decided to mess around with the Yogi Berra stance in baseball. I’ve always been fascinated by how unique it was, and I wanted to see if I could even remotely pull it off.
Getting Started
First things first, I grabbed my bat and headed out to my backyard. I don’t have a batting cage or anything fancy, just some open space and a bucket of old baseballs. I started by just trying to visualize what Berra’s stance looked like. It’s super crouched, right? Like, really low to the ground.
The Awkwardness Begins
- The Crouch: Oh boy, this was tough. I tried to get as low as I could, bending my knees way more than I usually do. It felt incredibly awkward and unstable.
- Bat Position: Berra held the bat pretty far back, almost behind his head. Trying to mimic that felt so unnatural. My wrists were already complaining.
- Feet placement: I played with it, I think I kind of did the open stance, not as extreme as his though.
Swinging (or Trying To)
Now for the fun part – actually trying to hit a ball. I set up a makeshift tee (literally just a bucket turned upside down) and placed a ball on top.
My first few swings were… comical, to say the least.
Because I was so low and off-balance, I had zero power. The ball just kind of dribbled off the tee. I felt like I was going to fall over with every swing.
I tried to adjust, shifting my weight, changing my grip, but nothing seemed to help. It was just so hard to generate any force from that position.
My Final Thoughts
After about an hour of flailing around, I decided to call it quits. My back was starting to ache, and my legs were burning. Major respect to Yogi Berra for being able to not only hit from that stance but to be a Hall of Famer doing it. It’s way harder than it looks! I get it now, though the man was strong.
I’m definitely sticking to my regular stance from now on. But it was a fun experiment, and I learned to appreciate the quirks and nuances of different batting styles.
