Did the Spaceman save Big Papi's season? (6/27/09)
My clinic's Integrative Medicine team participated in a recent Health Expo in Boston that featured lots of free massages and acupressures, as well as a chance to rub elbows with Bill "Spaceman" Lee, the Sox' Southpaw ace of the '70's. Among his many verbal gems and tidbits was his story about how David Ortiz's horrendous slump came to an end. I haven't seen it written up anywhere else, but it rang true for me.
Seems that Lee runs a bat making company in Northern Vermont that uses local labor and wood in an employee-owned coop format that turns out top quality bats. Good enough so that he's been supplying Ortiz for a while now. He'd been as puzzled as any of us by the slump that marked the start of this season for Big Papi, but he also noticed a problem in swing mechanics that he thought could be helped by making the bat handle a little thicker.
Without Papi's knowledge, Bill sent a shipment of altered bats with handles about 1/8" thicker than normal. Lo and behold, the day after said shipment arrived, Papi hit his first home run of the year. Since then, he's been back on his normal pace for power and average. But the Spaceman hasn't gotten any credit, to my knowledge. I was out of town for those few weeks when things turned around for Ortiz, so it's possible this story got some air time without me catching it.
Have any of you seen media coverage of this angle? Or will it be the unsolved mystery of the 2009 season? Let me know what you've heard. Thanks.
Seems that Lee runs a bat making company in Northern Vermont that uses local labor and wood in an employee-owned coop format that turns out top quality bats. Good enough so that he's been supplying Ortiz for a while now. He'd been as puzzled as any of us by the slump that marked the start of this season for Big Papi, but he also noticed a problem in swing mechanics that he thought could be helped by making the bat handle a little thicker.
Without Papi's knowledge, Bill sent a shipment of altered bats with handles about 1/8" thicker than normal. Lo and behold, the day after said shipment arrived, Papi hit his first home run of the year. Since then, he's been back on his normal pace for power and average. But the Spaceman hasn't gotten any credit, to my knowledge. I was out of town for those few weeks when things turned around for Ortiz, so it's possible this story got some air time without me catching it.
Have any of you seen media coverage of this angle? Or will it be the unsolved mystery of the 2009 season? Let me know what you've heard. Thanks.
posted by Rick Leskowitz,MD at 1:25 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home