No Joy In Baseball World

July 17, 2014 9:11 PM

For 20 years, he was the biggest name in youth baseball. His coaching popularized a new wave of analysis, while his instructional videos entranced a generation of professional players and fans. And those iconic TV commercials turned him into a pop-culture phenomenon. Then, as suddenly as he arrived, Tom Emanski was gone.
posted by Ghostride The Whip (4 comments total)

Holy crap! I had these videos and I had graduated from college when I purchased them. Loved them. Wish Emanski would sit for one interview and answer the mystery of his life. Maybe one day, when he passes, he will leave a will that explains some things, donates a big chunk of money to youth baseball, and clears up some of his mystery.

Like many innovators, he is one of a kind.
posted by 724A at 11:01 PM on July 17, 2014

That was the instructional video... that got results.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 12:56 AM on July 18, 2014

I remember the commercials for the videos well, especially the trash-can throw from center-field. I never bought one, because I never had a need. However, I used the gist of the Emanski's drill techniques as gleaned from the commercial when I was trying to teach some people to fight as unit with swords and shields.
posted by ob1quixote at 11:30 AM on July 18, 2014

Oh, the memories.

Thanks for the reminder.
Definitely going to look those up once my daughter starts playing.
posted by madajb at 2:50 PM on July 18, 2014