I’m not one to criticize Greg Maddux, but if there’s a way to shatter your hands and never pitch again, he’s got it figured out:
Again, I never reached my goals of becoming a Major League baseball player (although some of the pitchers in the San Diego Adult Baseball League throw some wicked curveballs, so maybe I’m closer than I realize… or not), but I’m pretty sure the best way to bunt is NOT to wrap your hands around the barrel of the bat.
Or maybe it is, and that’s why I’m writing a blog about baseball cards and Greg Maddux is the subject, and not the other way around.
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Filed under: Cards, How To Tagged: | 1991, bunting, Chicago, Cubs, greg maddux, Upper Deck
No, I’m pretty sure you’re right. If that ball hits Maddux right in the finger, you can kiss a couple of starts goodbye.
With over 180 career sacrifice bunts and no injured fingers, I think he could probably give us all some lessons.
That, or he’s the luckist sacrifice bunter to ever play the game!
But probably the former.
To completely overanalyze that picture (and take all the fun out of a humorous blog post), my guess is that the picture is taken AFTER the bunt had occurred. When waiting for the bunt, the bat rests in your fingertips behind the barrel, but when the ball hits, the bat pops back into your hand, which helps deaden the ball in grass.
In that picture Maddux is not watching the pitch come in, he is admiring his latest, perfect, sacrafice bunt.