Bob Gibson Moved Down The Mound Faster Than Other Pitchers

by Dick Mills on November 06, 2009

Bob Gibson, the Hall Of Fame Pitcher, who had what many say was the best season ever in 1968 with a 1.12 E.R.A., used pitching mechanics similar to Momentum Pitching, which we have been proposing since early 2007.  (At the time I was pitching in high A ball in Winston Salem, NC.  Everybody wanted to be Bob Gibson.)

Notice in the video how fast Bob Gibson moves his body toward the plate.  Everything he is doing, including swinging his arms is designed to build more speed of movement and forward momentum.  Apparently Bob Gibson, without having to understand biomechanics, instinctively knew that the faster he moved his body, the faster he would throw and the less hitters would like it because they would have less time to react and he would be closer to the plate.

Plus, very similar to what Tim Lincecum and Aroldis Chapman do, moving fast toward the hitter is very disarming and disruptive to their timing.  I believe this is one of the reasons why Tim Lincecum is so successful.  He moves down the mound faster than any other MLB pitcher besides Chapman. That should tell coaches something.

In fact, in the new book Sixty Feet Six Inches here is what Bob Gibson said about building momentum and moving his body faster.  And what Reggie Jackson said about pitchers:

On page 42 Bob Gibson writes "I jumped at the hitter. If they would have let me, I'd have loved to back up and run up over the mound, like jai alai, like Happy Gilmore hitting a drive. I wanted everything to me moving that way when I let go of the ball. Everything. I wanted to be a gathering storm and blow that fastball in there with all the force and fury I could muster up". (Does that sound like a pitcher who believed in moving slow and controlled, stepping to the side first or the importance of getting to a balance position?)

This was followed by Reggie Jackson on page 43 saying "Put it this way. As a hitter, I'd have liked it very much if Bob Gibson had slowed down or cut back on his delivery. And it's not just the velocity he gained from it. It's also the motion itself. A hitter tries to get in sync with a pitcher's motion. When he's rocking, I'm rocking. I'll start getting into my swing before the ball is actually delivered. If the motion is harder to time, that's an advantage for the pitcher." (Do you think hitters would like to face a Momentum Pitcher or a conventional pitcher?)

In 2004 we introduced Explosive Pitching, which emhasizes moving fast.  I believe that if Bob Gibson were pitching today he might very well be using Explosive Pitching rather than the slow movements used today by most major league pitchers except Tim Lincecum.

Why then don't coaches advocate a delivery similar to Bob Gibson's such as Explosive or Momentum Pitching? It is clear that most coaches do not think "outside the box" but instead simply do or listen to what every other pitching coach suggests.  If they understood that velocity is produced by speed of momentum by moving the body faster into a longer stride, then just maybe they would open their minds and look at new way of doing things.  

Not only does Explosive Pitching produce more velocity but it is much less stressful on the arm since it is the body that produces velocity...not the arm.  Plus, one of the biggest benefits is that hitters do not like facing pitchers who give them less time to prepare and less time to react. http://www.pitching.com/products 

"My 14 year old son's velocity jumped 12 mph, his control improved dramatically and his arm pain vanished. For the first time since he has been pitching, he finally understands what he is doing...what causes the ball to do what it does and how his body functions to be effective...now that is priceless." 

Mark A Smith, Downers, Grove, IL