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Lead Off Hitting - Who Said?
Who was the first fan or player to yell, "Hey, batter, batter, batter - swing!"? Whoever he or she was, the intention of the phrase was always to distract a batter from the opponent team at the home plate. The famous phrase has stuck around little league, high school, NCAA and MLB baseball fields for many decades. But is it simply something funny (or annoying) to yell or does it actually have some sort of nasty effect on the away team batter? Also, do Japanese baseball players have a similar saying?
In the Japan league, ballplayers and fans might yell, "Hey, senshu, senshu, senshu - buranko!"
And who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks? It is becoming increasingly popular for "retired" players to put away the golf clubs and come out of retirement to play for short-term contracts worth megabucks. So why are there so many ex-players playing again?
Maybe the answer is they just can't walk away from the game. Or maybe it's because they miss being on TV or on the Internet. Imagine whenever an ex ace pitcher signs online or watches TV and sees another highlight homerun from Big Papi, Manny Ramirez, the Phillies' Howard, Barry Bonds, Todd Helton, Vlad Guerrero, A-Rod, Jeter, Pujols or any the other big sluggers, he can't stop himself from muttering under his breath, "Hey, batter, batter, batter - swing!"
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