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In last months April 2005 column,
titled: "The Best", we gave our opinion on who was the best bowler
ever, and our choice is Earl Anthony.
In this month's May column, we are going to tell you about another
story about Earl that was in my published book; "The
Tour Would Be Great "IF" You Didn't Have To Bowl". (NOTE: That
book is now a 3, CD set and is available here on Bowlers Paradise
website).
On that CD set, there are 6-stories about Earl. Actually, I probably
could have written an entire book about him; the man who was nicknamed:
"The Doomsday Stroking Machine".
This specific chapter is titled: "Ruthian". That particular word
has appeared in some dictionaries as a tribute to the great baseball
player, Babe Ruth, the man who demolished all of the Home-Run records
of his time. The "Babe" dominated the game of baseball like nobody
else had ever done. The "Bambino" was something else. So was Earl.
I've got so many "Babe Ruth" (Ruthian) stories about Earl that it
is hard to pick out just one, but I have decided to share this one
with you. It is a bit technical, but it is just one of the things
that make a player great.
Most experts agree that a great player must possess: versatility.
In my opinion he was definitely the most versatile. Why? Because
he could do everything. Why? Because he developed different styles.
Most Tour players can win on their particular shot, or lane condition.
Some Tour players can win on a couple of different types of lane
conditions. There are a few Tour players who can win on many different
types of lane conditions. Earl could win on any and all types of
lane conditions.
How was he able to do that? He did it through hard work - extremely
hard work. He spent hours and hours and days and days and weeks
and weeks practicing different styles. He knew that his particular
style would NOT work all of the time. He knew that in order to win
consistently, he needed MORE than one game (or style) to go to.
Let's put this into perspective. ALL of the players on Tour are
either; good, very good or great. The good players have one game
and can cash consistently. The very good players have two games
and can usually make the finals. The great players have three of
four games and can win on a few different types of lane conditions.
Now, you ask, what was so different about Earl? What was different?
What "was" different was the "way" that he practiced and how he
was able to dominate the way that he did.
Besides his remarkable Mental Game, he highly developed one of the
parts of his Physical Game; that being his "hand positions".
He mastered three (3) different hand positions:
A). Cupped (wrist cocked-up).
B). Regular (straight wrist).
C). Flat (wrist tilted down).
These three (3) different hand positions enabled him to create the
three (3) types of ball reactions that were needed: skid, roll and/or
hook; whenever he needed them.
Then he highly developed three (3) different types of push-aways:
A). Ball held chest high and a straight push-away (for maximum ball
speed).
B). Ball held belt high (for medium ball speed from a shorter back-swing).
C). Ball held lower (below the belt for minimum ball speed).
The countless hours of practice on this alone gave him the great
speed control that he had.
Additionally, he highly developed three (3) types of ball projection
onto the lane.
A). He would project the ball three (3) feet out onto the lane for
a desired reaction.
B). He would lay the ball down a foot over the foul-line for another
type of reaction.
C). He would lay the ball down at the foul-line (or on the approach)
for an earlier reaction.
He learned that these different projections would give him the ball
reaction that he needed on a particular type of lane condition.
This didn't just happen. He worked on all three (3) of these things
for days on end.
What did all of this give him?
Well, you really don't have to be a mathematics professor to figure
that 3X3X3 equals 27.
Yes, that's right; he had 27-games that he could go to. |
