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IF SOMEONE WAS TO ASK WHAT WAS new in baseball this year I would say it was the wholesale dismissal of major league batting coaches. `When the clubs assemble for spring training, believe it or not, half of them will open with a new hitting instructor.
So what's going on?
"They're taking the fall," said Chuck Tanner, who managed four big league clubs. "You can always pass the buck and blame the hitting coach."
Said Whitey Lockman, who has touched all the bases and is approaching his 60th season in the grand old game:
"Only God can make a great hitter!"
If so, what is the value of a batting coach?
I asked Al Lopez, the Hall of Fame manager now retired after 40 years in the big leagues, if he knew of a batting coach who improved any hitters?