Ballet and pitching

[dirac]

I found thoughts of ballet crossing my mind occasionally when viewing some old baseball footage on the telly recently. The less inhibited motions of pitchers in days gone by made for some very interesting effects on the mound. I was watching Bob Gibson strike people out, and noted not only the off balance battement produced by his leg kick, but the remarkable follow through where he seems to be heading towards the hitter in a sort of traveling arabesque. The demi-pointe positions taken by Ron Guidry, and Juan Marichal's super high extension also come to mind.

Anyway, those were my reflections, pointless though they may be.

[Mel Johnson]

And it even works if you go back in time! After all, look at Babe Ruth when he was pitching - he's a bit beefy, but there's a big, big port de bras in his windup. And Johnny Podres had a sort of grand rond de jambe en l'air going when he threw a slider!

[piccolo]

And how about Orlando's amazing extension or Trevor Hoffman's (sigh) demi-plie with developpe...

I love watching the pitchers. Some of them just throw but others are very balletic.

[Estelle]

Well, some people mention choreography about rugby, but rugby players don't exactly look balletic...

[Mel Johnson]

Oh, I dunno - with the right choreographer and company, I'll bet it could work! After all, didn't Arthur Honegger write a marvelously descriptive piece of program music entitled "Rugby"?;)

[dirac]

Most pitchers "just throw" these days because of a change of emphasis in training – a modern day pitching coach would most likely take a look at Ruth or Gibson and say, "What the bleep are you DOING?" So generally you don't see as much of those spectacular port de bras any more.

Don't know about rugby. I did hear David Halberstam compare basketball to ballet. Not being a fan of same, I disagreed.

Thanks, piccolo for reminding me of Trevor Hoffman, I hadn't thought of him. Hope that rotator cuff problem clears up.