Psst...Buy A Few Shares of Eastman Kodak
by Mark Bausch
August 1998
Mid-summer night games at Busch Stadium have always been preferred
to their daylight counterparts, if only because daytime July and
August temperatures in St. Louis are almost always in the neighborhood
of 90 degrees.
But 1998's summer night games are unique because of what happens
when Mark McGwire steps into the batters box.
The countless flashes from point-and-shoot cameras, aimed in
the general direction of Big Mac, suggests that literally hundreds
of fans want their own Kodak moment with the man who seems to
be the only reason that many folks come to Busch Stadium.
Says here that Kodak stock is on its way out of the doldrums.
And it isn't just the fans who are pointing their cameras at
the man that Cards broadcaster Mike Shannon says is bidding to
become the new "Sultan of Swat"--a recent Sports Illustrated
two-page spread contained an image of each and every one of McGwire's
first thirty-something HRs in 1998.
In addition, national sports publications have asked their
writers to discover the reason(s) for McGwire's apparently unprecedented
power hitting. Most of these articles noted that any accurate
description of McGwire's powerful swing includes the following
items: (1) maximum arc throughout the swing, (2) full extension
throughout the swing, and (3) top hand release in the follow-through.
To those three, we respectfully add the following features--the
waggle forward and the waggle back just prior to the coiling of
the bat behind his ear.
Hey...the St. Louis Sports Online staff has loves Kodak
products too...so click here
for a pictorial that includes Big Mac's waggle, stance, swing
through the zone, and full extension with top-hand release.
