Something old, new again

I heard something on KNBR the other day (Thursday if I remember right or was it Tuesday?)that made me realize that the A's philosophy is similar to Ted Williams hitting philosophy. FP Santangelo noted that the A's do not teach their hitters to take pitches and take walks to accent OBP, they are taught to swing only at "your" pitch, the pitch you can do something with, and to take all other pitches. That is totally Ted Williams hitting philosophy, hitting only the pitches in the zone (he has the strike zone marked out with your "batting average" if you swing and hit a ball in a certain area).

Well, not totally. Teddy Ball also advocated taking the first few pitches that you get in your first AB in order to get a feel for what the pitcher can throw that day, especially if it is the first time you ever face that pitcher. In addition, you give your following batters a chance to see a few more pitches from the pitcher, both in terms of number of pitches, as well as variety, because the more pitches and situations the pitcher has to face in that first inning, the more likely he is to throw all his pitches. He also advocated having an upper cut to your swing to get loft in the balls you hit, because he believed in getting home runs (obviously).