Gary Sheffield explains origins of unique batting stance

Gary Sheffield still stands as having had one of the most unique batting stances around, and he has explained its simple origins.

No two batting stances are exactly the same, from lower body positioning to hand/bat placement, etc. Some are memorable, some are not. Gary Sheffield’s batting stance was certainly different, and it worked to the tune of 509 career home runs and a .292 career batting average (.907 career OPS).

Sheffield recently appeared on former major leaguer Bret Boone’s podcast, and he explained the origins of his batting stance.

“I'm going to be honest with you, I made it up. Because I wanted to be different and I said I want my own style," Sheffield told Bret Boone on the latest edition of the latter's podcast. "I used to love Rickey Henderson. And everything Rickey Henderson did, it was Rickey Henderson-style. And so I would always play with things, with my bat stance, with where I'd hold my bat, the way I run, how I'm wearing my uniform — everything I did, I wanted to be stylish like Rickey Henderson.”

“And so I created this thing in batting practice and I wound up hitting ten balls out with that batting stance, and I said I'm gonna try it in the game. And I tried it in the game and I wound up hitting two home runs, and the rest is history."

..A lot of people thought that [with] me moving the bat like that, they could come inside on me, and. would do it harder to bait them inside," Sheffield said. "Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. But some nights you're on your game, you don't even feel that bat moving. It became my Joe Morgan with the elbow going into my ribs. It was the different batting stances that you saw all the generations pull out, and that was just my style.”

"And I owned it and I knew what I was doing with it."

The video above shows how Sheffield’s signature bat waggle became more pronounced and at times a lot faster as his career went on. During one his seasons with the Detroit Tigers late in his career (2007 or 2008), I witnessed it in-person with a good angle sitting on the first base side of the field. Even at the age he was, in his late 30s, his bat speed was noticeable.

But as it turns out, as such things often go, the origin for Sheffield’s batting stance was simple, essentially, “I tried it, it worked and I stuck with it.”