The 3 Shuns: Preparation, Visualization, Execution

Well, look at that high school photo, why dontcha! Where did all the hair go?

As you can tell from the other photo (that's me, Kirk Gibson, next to Tram and Cluckin' Chicken), I have a sit-down job. More specifically, I am the bench coach for the Detroit Tigers. I am not the hitting coach. That position is held by an experienced veteran of the minor leagues named Bruce Fields. We'll get more in-depth about this issue in my next 3 Shuns column. For now I'm just saying hello. Just to give you the head's up, Bobby Higginson will sit in for me whenever I can't contribute. He gets lots of questions from little leaguers and is eager to answer some of them here.

And now Kruk, you cheeseburger, I'm calling you out. You said a couple weeks back on Baseball Tonight that hitting a golf ball is harder than hitting a baseball. Are you out of your mind? Is the dip getting to you again? I cannot count how many times these past couple springs that I've had to get behind a player and show him to bunt while helping him hold his bat. This is just bunting! Catching the ball with your bat! Granted, I'm talking about a club that might not be playoff caliber, but I'm still talking about professionals. (I know I just said that I'm not the hitting coach, but bear with me. And this instructional drill is demeaning as hell, by the way, for both coach and player. I have to chase off photographers whenever we go through it. Just picture it, grown men playing what looks like a very gentle form of leapfrog.) Back on topic: I don't care how much bigger a baseball is. Hitting something that's coming at you at a 90 MPH clip versus something just sitting there, waiting for you to drill it into sweet oblivion. You've got to be kidding me. I hope you were just being surly to be surly, you tree trunk.