1998

The Gravedigger Takes Aim At The Target

- The Bill Menendez Hitting Method is available on VHS for $39.99 at all Walgreens Department Stores. Here is an excerpt:

Bill Menendez

There is only one thing that will allow you to improve your hitting: practice. Only practice will let you get more confident in your natural abilities. Get some broken wiffleballs - or heads from your sister's dolls - and get out into your back yard or a field and start violently smashing at the targets. Then practice, practice, practice.

First, dress properly and follow the basic safety guidelines. Wear your Punisher t-shirt. After all, in a game you will have to hit with it on. Make sure that there are no people or animals that you don't like anywhere near where you will be smashing. Do this everytime you get ready to begin smashing - you never know when someone you hate will come wandering into your smashing zone ... again.
You may have never paid much attention to this, but how you hold any kind 2x4, animal carcass or bat matters. Don’t try to smash from your hip – you shouldn’t be doing it in a game, and you shouldn’t do it in practice. Sure, sometimes you can get a hit by smashing from the hip, but you will always be more accurate if you have that bat up by your head so that you can aim at higher things that often bleed more.
Holding the bat properly can be complicated because of the oddly shaped knob at the bat's bottom. This is called 'the handle'. The best way to deal with this is to crush the handle. Some other players sort of adapt to the 'handle' by getting used to it. Don't know. Don't Care. If you want to crush the 'handle' like I do, you can put your arm underneath the bat so that it rests in the place where your elbow bends, then, using the hand on the other arm, you can reach over and crush the knob.

The next thing you need to do to improve your smash accuracy is to not hesitate. Be ready to flail out violently as soon as you have the target in sight. When you see a target, don’t stop to think about it: who it is, what it is. And don’t hesitate just because it is a hard shot to make or because it continues to scream. If you think you can make the hit the first time you see the opportunity, you probably can.

Finally, analyze yourself. When you miss, ask yourself whether you hesitated? Did you flinch or close your eyes before smashing?

When you do hit your target, analyze your performance even more. How how fast was the target moving? How much did they scream?

Doing these things will make you a more thoughtful wiffleball player, and also a better one.

Batter of the Year - Bill Menendez a powerful free-swinging slugger took top honors for the first time in 1998. For several seasons Bill maintained that a home run crown was in his future, as he hit monstrous shots into the deepest recesses of the schoolyard. Although he fell short of his goal of leading the league in home runs in '98, he did manage to stroke out close ot 50 of them while fininshed within a dozen RBI (168) of the league leadership in that category as well. 'The Digger' also completed the season at number one in grand slams with a even dozen, becoming the first person other than DiCesare to accomplish the feat. Meanwhile, It was an 'off year' for Chris whose home run total fell of 3 from 1997 to 74. Steve Chapin, still making the weekly drives up from Long Island with Menendez, led the league in singles (123) and walks with 72. Chapin most likely won the batting title that year, but that category would not be officially tracked until the following season: 1999. It is estimated that he hit about .750 that year, raising talk about the possibility -or impossibility - of a player hitting .800 for an entire season. Most thought it not possible.

Pitcher of the Year - Alan Lewis , following 1997's tie with Brian Gordon, out-polled Steve Chapin by one vote in yet another very close Cy Young ballotting. While the two aces were tied in victories with 4 each, Lewis set the pace in both KO's and IRA. Alan - who had lost some of his arm strength through an unavoidable combination of use and age - made the difficult transition into a finesse pitcher. He even changed his windup to further hide the grip on the ball before it's release point. And although he was in his mid-thirties, Lewis still competed with the competitive fire of a youth. His 2.46 IRA would be the best mark of his long and successful career and would earn him his record 6th Cy Young Award. But there was still no sign of that rumored invisible dog snout (pictured at right).

League Leaders:

Home Runs Chris DiCesare (74)

RBI Chris DiCesare (181)

Average -statistic not kept -

Wins Steve Chapin (4)

Alan Lewis (4)

KO's Alan Lewis (67)

IRA Alan Lewis (2.46)

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In Major League Baseball: The New York Yankees defeated the San Diego Padres

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