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Average Customer Review
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27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
I owe my self-esteem to this book, September 11, 2000
I was a scrawny little kid to whom baseball was everything. To my parent's dismay, I judged myself by how I played baseball. But I was scared of the baseball and lost as to how to go about hitting it. My coaches gave me harmful, misguided instructions like, "make sure it's a stike, then swing at it" and "snap those wrists". I was a wreck. Then one winter my Dad (like me, a George Brett/Wade Boggs fan) bought me this book. My Dad had never been able to hit either, but he and I dissected it over the course of a summer.It was a lot of work, more work than any 12-year-old could could have undertaken without the guidance of an equally determined adult. But my Dad and I realized that hitting was a process, a method that could be learned. Lau taught that everything I had been told -with horrible results- was in fact wrong. You don't judge whether a pitch is a strike and then swing; you start your swing and let your reflexes hold you back. You don't swing hard with your arms; you swing easy and get your power from your whole body. All spring we worked on it, practicing in the garage, spending literally hundreds of dollars at batting cages working on mechanics. That very next season, I was hitting the ball better, and I only improved from there. By the end of that season, I was a certified leadoff terror. My team won its league title thanks to a game-winning single by yours truly. I even hit a few home runs (by not trying to, as Lau teaches). I was deliriously happy. Even since then I've been a good hitter. Not a power hitter (I'm much too small), but a solid doubles guy with surprising pop. What I learned from this book kept me in organized baseball through Babe Ruth and high school (simultaneously), college, and semi-professional leagues. I am a hideously slow runner who soon after puberty had to give up dreams of playing professionally, but to this day I can step in front of a pitcher or pitching machine -cold- and drive the ball. This book taught me how. If you really want to hit a baseball, buy it, read it, internalize it, and put your faith in it. It will serve you well.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
The best hitting book I have ever read., May 3, 1999
By A Customer
Any player confused by batting cage myths and theories ought to definetely consider reading this masterpiece. It breaks down the 10 Absolutes to good hitting in an easy-to-understand text,features hitter analyses, and is full of pictures to refer back to. Not only does it deal with the actual mechanics(the Absolutes)but it deals with the mental side of hitting including dreaded but inevitable slumps.This book changed my entire hitting "career" and raised my batting average from .132 in '97 to .418 in '98. I am now a freshman in high school(1999)and the starting left fielder on varsity at 5'6",145 and it's not for my defense.I couldn't dream of this 2 years ago until Lau showed me how to get the most out of my body. This is the best hitting book I have ever read.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
Hitter's Best Friend, May 11, 2003
If you want to learn to hit the right way, this might be the best investment you will ever make. Like another reviewer wrote, though, you must be willing to do the work to learn the lessons the book teaches. Also, if you just want to be a home run hitter, this book is not for you; a home run is only a pleasant mistake in the Charlie Lau/George Brett school, which teaches solid line-drive hitting. After studying this book, I became a Top 10 hitter in a highly-competitive Texas league. The Art of Hitting .300 is a baseball treasure.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
great hitter's book, July 26, 2001
I recommend this book for anyone wants to learn (or teach) advanced hitting techniques. Pictures and descriptions clearly explain common hitting problems and show correct swing mechanics. My 15-year old struggled through his first slump before we applied Lau's hitting fundamentals. He added fifty points to his batting average over the next month and hit 0.638 in a national tournament. I believe this book had a lot to do with his improvement.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A MUST read for any Coach or player !!!!, March 5, 2008
This is the 'source' information from which all useable functional,and common sense hitting instruction comes from.It's still just as relevant in '08 as it was back when the White Sox had those horrible uniforms.(and haircuts)
This book De-bunks a lot of the 'Red Herrings' of Hitting folklore. I am constantly amazed as a player and coach how much out and out, wrong information is out there.
Lau wrote this book right at the advent of the use of video. He was the first person to analyze a swing in all it's entirety. He not only came up with the '10 absolutes' but he points out what is NOT important...(stance,elbows up,staying back...whatever that means?)
No more 'squashing butterflies and squishing bugs'....
He speaks of the importance of:
Rhythm,weight shift
You Hit off of your FRONT foot.
You go back to get forward!
You do not keep your eye on the ball....Your head goes down when you swing.
and all importantly...tough as nails Charlie LAU talking about what most guys don't want to...fear and tension in hitting.
etc,etc,etc.
I was struggling at the plate when I bought this book. I was a power hitting .200 pull hitter. I retired from adult ball,hitting twice that. More importantly I taught everything I learned in this book to my son who has won a few league batting titles,though he still gets the occasional snide remark about how his swing 'looks' (LOL!)
I have taught many sub .150 hitting kids how to hit .400...it always lights up a kids face to find out I don't give a darn where his elbow is (or how many bugs he squashes)
I recently stepped into a cage after not having touched a bat in over a year. I drilled 10 consecutive line drives into the L-screen. I thought of Charlie's ghost smiling down as I imagined 'hitting the pitcher in the forehead' and driving it 'back through the box'
Charlie lives forever!!
I know this book isn't cheap because it's so hard to find (they need to reprint it!!)
BUT... It'll be worth every penny !!
-solpig
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Total Results! Incredible Book!, December 20, 2006
I read the first edition of this book when I was 14 years old. I followed all the advice to the letter. Subsequently, I led my baseball league in hitting with a .625 batting average. What a ringing endorsement, huh.
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Zen and the art of Charlie Lau, March 25, 2000
I read this book while I was in high school, and I must say that this book became an incredible source of enlightenment. Mr. Lau breaks down the basics (mechanics and drills) which are all fundamentally sound. But it is when Mr. Lau presents the mindset of his methods, is where the heart of this book lies. After following his teachings, not only did I have the best year in my high school career, but I am adapting his teaching to my Little League team (rookie coach this year). Of course, everyone will receive their own lessons from his words, as everyone has his or her own style of hitting. But this book is worth reading, as you will find a lot to learn. I bow to Mr. Lau, has he is truly a 'sensei' of the baseball world.
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Look at the 1980 hardback edition for value, September 9, 2009
The Art of Hitting .300
I've read both editions of the book and feel like the original is a better value. If you can find it priced less, don't hesitate to pick up that copy. Look under the used ones.. I think I saw it under 1st edition hardback.
This book is well worth the fundamentals and mental growth. What it did for my hitting was absolutely INCREDIBLE. I've read several different authors and this is my favorite.
What's so great about this book is it teaches you the science of having a perfect swing. This becomes so smooth and natural that it doesn't feel like your swinging at baseballs anymore. It doesn't even feel like your hitting them. I went from swinging and seeing a glimpse of the ball to feeling like someone was placing the ball on my bat and I was throwing / casually flicking balls off the end. Kind of like the matrix, everything really slowed down. Except for at the end was this magnificent crack that resulted in a beautiful HR swing. This had to be one of the weirdest feelings ever. When coaches see a player that has this beautiful swing their eyes light up. They see the potential the player has. I saw the difference in my own experiences.
I picked up a copy of this between HS and university. I couldn't even make my HS team. After reading the book and studying the principles over the summer (every day - 3 months) I tried out for major division NCAA I team. The coach was blown away that I was not a scholarship prospect. I can't tell you how great it felt to be 1 of 3 players out of 100 trying out (including scholarship athletes and the entire baseball team) that was able to hit a pitching machine cranked up to 90+. During that summer before college and tryouts I also ran into other players that had been drafted onto minor league squads that were always asking where I played. When I told them I didn't even play on my HS team they couldn't believe me. I had played for several years outside of school, but just couldn't make that team. I wish this was there while I was in HS. It did come through for me in college though!!! And it has my boys looking like ALLSTARS!!!!!!! :)
You are going to see great results... Good luck!!!
*You will want about 3 books to study and become a batting god. I'll be reviewing the other ones soon. :)
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The Art of Hitting .300, August 28, 2009
Although this is the original version of Lau's ideas of hitting the concepts are great for teaching young hitters. Good hitters will definetly display his fundamnetals covered in this addition
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This is THE classic book on hitting - a must have, January 14, 2009
It's now many years after all my sons have retired from baseball including careers at the D1 NCAA playoff level. This was one of the early books I read on hitting, not so much to help my sons (that was part of it) but also just to understand hitting. As a physiologist with biomechanical experience, I couldn't resist thinking, pondering, wondering, watching etc. I spent 15 years intimately associated with watching hitting at all levels. You can't have that kind of exposure without hearing all sorts of "theories" from so-called experts, most of which are TOTAL nonsense from a physics and/or biomechanical point of view. This book is one of only a few exceptions. The key to Mr. Lau's "genius" was his unique understanding that many elements of an individual's swing can be either good, bad, or neutral depending on the other elements of the swing. There were (are) only a few "absolutes", just as Mr. Lau noted. This is why so many pro's swings look a bit different; they have non-absolutes that "generally" work for them, or at least have neutral effects other than the appearance of the swing. It also explains how hitters at the highest levels can go into serious slumps. True, many slumps (all?) have a mental component, but some just pop up seemingly out of nowhere and have a biomechanical basis. Some minor element of a swing will change, either an addition or subtraction or some sort of modification. Often these occur unintentionally. This "new" element can creat havoc on its own, OR work in a synergistic way with some other (previously benign) element of a swing to create a domino effect. This also explains why there are so few really gifted hitting coaches. The truly gifted ones can "see" all the elements AND understand how they interact. They can see the domino effects and don't waste time worrying about atypical but benign elements or worry excessively about the last element in the domina cascade. OK, what does this have to do with this book? Mr. Lau was the first, perhaps only source to really "get" this and write about it. His book is STILL the best book out there on the subject. If you want to understand hitting, or more specifically the swing part of hitting (there is much more to hitting than just the swing), you need to understand the concepts of this book at a minimum. I can't recommend it highly enough.
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