Baseball fans around the world marvel at the success of Chicago Cub Kris Bryant. Few know of his connection to ASGCA, particularly ASGCA Past President Bob Cupp.
Among his many talents, Cupp served as illustrator for Hall of Famer Ted Williams’ book, “The Science of Hitting.” It turns out the Cub third baseman was raised – at least in baseball terms – on Williams’ writing, and Cupp’s illustrations.
The New York Times reports:
Bryant’s father, Mike, grew up in Medford, Mass., and spent two years in the Boston Red Sox’ farm system. He had read “The Science of Hitting” when he was a teenager and had worked to absorb the book’s ideas, and in spring training, he had the opportunity to work with the actual Williams, who was there as a club instructor.
Williams peppered his book with stories from his encyclopedic memory and extolled the virtues of using a light bat, letting the hips lead the way on a swing and doing homework on pitchers, whom he characterized as not lacking intelligence, just smarts.
“The first thing you looked at with the book was that in all its simplicity, with everything hand drawn, it was incredibly complex,” Mike Bryant said. “My first impression is, this is not just see it, hit it — monkey see, monkey do. It was very hard for me to understand because it was geometry and trigonometry and angles and all that stuff, and the way I was taught was very different.”
The complete New York Times article can be found here.