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was that it 'locked' my lead wrist to the bat whereas when I choked up I ended up with a very 'choppy' swing when my drive hand would rotate over my lead hand-thus encouraging me to get pull-happy since that was the only way to control *when* in the swing path my wrists rolled over. The upside of the 'choppy' swing was that if I got my pitch in my spot I could turn on the ball and lift it with the Lord's own vengeance. But having the lead hand lowered like Edgar forced *me* into a more level inside-out swing where I had to tuck my drive elbow and literally spin my torso in order to react to anything on the inside - in my mind's eye it was a pretty close parallel to how Edgar swung during his later career (I wasn't really paying attention during his prime unfortunately).
When I would use a standard knob (I always thought of them as 'flat' or 'mushroom' knobs having never been exposed to the proper vernacular for the sport) I have a hard time hanging my pinky down like Edgar does because it sort of messes with my lead arm; my wrist isn't as 'connected' to the barrel of the bat when I lower my grip on a standard knob but on a flared knob it feels incredibly natural to do so - I consciously feel more aggressive and composed while gripping a flared knob like Edgar did and much more defensive when gripping a standard knob in a similar fashion. The funny part is the reverse doesn't hold true both ways: I can grip a flared knob traditionally and still use a 'lift-and-seperate' swing (ala Bonds/Mike Cameron) with a flared knob and feel in no way timid about it and a traditional grip on a standard/mushroom knob also allows me to feel aggressive. Obviously choking up removes all of this from the equation and personally it makes me feel like I'm chopping down a tree.
But when wielding a baseball bat like Edgar does I feel more subconsciously connected to the barrel than I do with any other grip. When using a standard grip or choking up it's unavoidable to my conscious mind that the bat and I are separate entities albeit ones working together. When I hold a bat like Edgar I feel like it's an extension of my lead arm.
I could tell stories about my experience trying to relate to people on a fundamental level but I fear it would be entirely too self-aggrandizing. I'll just leave it here: 'self-effacing' is as generous as I think a person could be in trying to describe my tendencies when it comes to that particular endeavor ;-) I always wanted to be part of the pack but I've slowly come to realize that there are precious few places where that can genuinely be the case - SSI/D-O-V being one of them!