JUST TOO BAD
"About the only successful bad-ball hitter in the business today is Yogi Berra of the Yankees, who, as a kid in St. Louis used to root for Joe Medwick. Perhaps Yogi borrowed the unorthodox technique from 'Ducky,' as Joe used to be known.
Joe, one-time National League batting champion, was known as a bad-ball hitter in his time. He was never particular. If the pitch was outside the strike zone but suited him, he swung at it. Often, he would hit the bad pitch safely. That was the difference between Joe and most other bad-ball swingers. More than a swinger, he was a hitter; he hit those outside-the-zone deliveries safely.
That he was successful was attested by the fact he was rated one of the most dangerous hitters of his time and won the National League batting title with .374 in 1937. That year he also was named the league's Most Valuable Player. Among other achievements, he drove home 154 runs.
One time in Brooklyn, Medwick recalled, he was called out on strikes by Umpire Beans Reardon. The time before he had hit a tremendous home run.
'Beans,' Joe shouted, 'how could you call me out on that pitch? It was two inches inside.'
'Quit squawkin' Joe,' Beans said. 'The pitch you hit the homer on was a foot-and-a-half inside. If you could swing at that one, you could have swung at this one. You're still out!' "
-Sy Burick, the Dayton News (Baseball Digest, February 1958)
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