Hand-bye! coordination

The takeoff point in Mark McGwire's rise from inconsistent slugger to burgeoning legend occurred when he adopted Charlie Lau's one-handed extension principle

In the Church of Hitting, there are many pews, but that wasn't always the case. Thirty years ago, the Church was ruled by the orthodoxy of a two-handed extension on follow-through. Hitters were required to hold on to a bat with two hands as if it were a ladder up from hell. Then a heretic former catcher. Charlie Lau, proclaimed his belief in a one-handed extension, calling for release of the top hand after contact. His theory caused much gnashing of teeth among the orthodox, A one-handed extension would reduce efficiency and power, they warned.

Mark McGwire extends with one hand. In the '90s, many of the game's best hitters embrace Lau's principles, but no convert is more significant than McGwire. Should he break Roger Maris' home run record, Lau's theory will be canonized, and McGwire's persistence in converting from the conventional two-handed technique he learned as a child will be rewarded.

"It's obvious to me McGwire's changed from the beginning of his career," says retired hitting instructor Walt Hriniak, a Lau disciple. "I'm glad he's taking advantage of Charlie's system. I was hoping it wouldn't go unrecognized. It matters because a lot of people thought Charlie was wrong. It's a fact that can't be denied."

I first heard or McGwire's conversion last spring, in a conversation with Mariners hitting coach Jesse Barfield, a former Blue Jays and Yankees outfielder. Barfield teaches a one-handed extension and has compiled a study showing that 85 percent of baseball's top hitters extend with one hand. (Of the others, half are left-handed.) Barfield noticed McGwire going to a predominantly one-handed extension about three years ago.

"From a mechanical standpoint, he's better than he's ever been," Barfield says. "I remember scouting reports on him when I was with the Yankees: `Don't pitch him down, he'll kill you. Get him up.' Now lie's handling the high strike, because his swing is flatter through the zone as opposed to a big loop.

"I'm interested why he changed his stroke. He was a two-handed muscle guy. He didn't use to release, Last year, he hit two home runs at Pro Player (stadium). One, he released after contact and it was a monster shot. The other one, he held on with two hands, and it barely went up there."

In mid-June, I catch up with McGwire, three hours before a game at Comiskey Park, and relate Barfield's remarks. Politely, he fends off the topic. "I never talk technical baseball," he says. "There are things the media don't need to know. There are things my teammates don't know about. I just keep it to myself In my mind. Someday when I'm a coach, I'll talk about it,"

Is it accurate that a top-hand release was a turning point for you? I ask.

He nods, reluctantly.

"I agree with that."

Why?

"It gives me full extension. Any hitting coach tries to teach kids full extension but it doesn't happen overnight. It took quite a few years for me."

That is as far as McGwire goes. Even Cardinals manager Tony La Russa sheds a thin light on McGwire's "turning point," while emotionally acknowledging Lau, a mentor and friend. La Russa came under Lau's influence as a journeyman infielder with the A's in 1970. Lau spent most of the '70s as the Royals' hitting coach, molding George Brett and Hal McRae into elite hitters. When La Russa managed the White Sox in the early 1980s, he hired Lau. Carlton Fisk, struggling with a choppy Fenway Park swing, was Lau's last triumph. After Lau died of cancer, at 50, in 1984, the White Sox wore his initials on their uniforms for a year.

McGwire is descended from Lau through La Russa, his first manager as an PCs rookie in 1987. Additionally, McGwire's hitting coach as a rookie was Bob Watson, who played tinder Lau with the Yankees in 1980 and '81.

"The great majority of Mark's swings, you'll see his top hand release," La Russa. says. "Which is the ultimate irony for says. Charlie Lau. People thought what Charlie taught, taking the hand off, meant that you would obviously lose power. All he was saving was to hit through the ball and take the hand off at maximum point of extension so you can get more extension. Ted Williams was violently opposed to Charlie, he said he was teaching to go to the opposite field. He misunderstood. Charlie took guys who weren't home run hitters and raised their average 50 to 60 points by getting them to play the center of the field.

"What I'm not going to do is ask Mark, `Did you start taking your top hand off?' The worst thing that can happen is; to start thinking about it. He's got an idea of what he's doing. The more he does it without having to explain it ... he's really got it working. It's a wonderful irony. I guarantee you that if that's the way it works in heaven, Charlie is going, `Yeah, yeah.'