Great point, Ice. This is sooooo cool! So the guy who I first remember as the real poster-child of a K'ing/hammering slugger was Reggie Jackson, way back when I was a youngster. That's a decade before he went deep 3 times in Game 6 of the '77 WS. I remember that tremendous rotational-screwed into the ground cut, of his.
So, I head to youtube to find the perfect clip.....and I find one even more perfect that I had imagined.
Here's an analysis titled "Rotational Analysis and Reggie." Interestingly, the dude doing it also points out how well Reggie gets onto his front leg (ala Aaron) and off his back leg (lifting the foot) despite his wicked rotation (unlike Aaron/Mays). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op8EK5kT3DI
So I'm wondering if Reggie was one of those transitional guys, from one style to another, changing the game. I'm sure there were others before Reggie (Mantle), but were there others that were seen so often on national TV, and who responded so dramatically to the moment.
Hmmmmmm......Thanks Ice. I remember the early criticism (I was just a whipper-snapper) of Reggie because he K'ed so often (more than 600 times in his 1st 4 years). Aaron, was never over 97 in his long HAMMERING career, and only got into the 90's once before he turned 31. In his 1st 4 years he only K'ed 200 times, for example. In '59, when he hit .355-.411-.636, he K'ed only 54 times in nearly 700 PA's.
Mays finally went over 100 K's in '71, when he was 41 AND had 112 BB's (OBP of .425, if you forget how great he was. Man he was 41!) He never got into the 90's until he was 36 years old! In '55, Mays hit 51 HR's and .319, slugged .659, yet he K'd only 60 times. In '65 (playing in the SF soup) he had a better year, including 52 HR's and only 71 K's.
Cruz hit 44 HR's last year, with 164!!!!! K's. Seager, who nobody thinks of as a K'ing machine, was at 98...the lowest of his career.
Essentially, Kyle Seager's best year (in terms of HR's and K's) saw him K'ing more than Mays EVER did (until he was Methuselah).
Did Mr. October and prime time television have an impact on the evolution of the swing? Hmmmmm.....??
I'm beginning to think, really, that we're teaching the baseball swing (on this side of the pond) in a fundamentally incorrect manner.
BTW, Maris hit 61 in '61 and K'ed just 67 times in 590 AB's, about 11% of the time. In '15, Ketel Marte, who we all see as the exemplar of contact/hit it where they ain't/put it in play small ball, K'ed 43 times in 219 AB's, over 19% of the time.
In the era just before me, Dick Kluszewski might be the icon of a smashing-bashing-1B whopper. From '53-'55, he crashed 136 HR's (never below 40) yet he K'ed only 106 times. Total! Essentially he was a Cruz, yet he K'd 55 times less than Cruz and it took him 3 seasons to do it! If you add Kluszewski's '52 AND '56 you can add 59 more K's.
In 5 complete seasons, Dick Kluszewski, one of the mashing Popeyes of his time (known for his forearms, btw), K'ed a total of 165 times. Cruz did that last year.
How times have changed.
For the better? I don't know....but I really like the Japanese/Korean ("greet" the ball) philosophy, more and more.