A Quick Q & A with Batting Stance Guy

If you haven't heard of Batting Stance Guy yet, you need to stop whatever it is that you are doing right now, and either check out his website or his YouTube page. Go ahead, I'll wait...

Okay, are you back? Good. How awesome is that, right? I know, it's great.
Where was I? Oh yeah, Batting Stance Guy, or BSG as the cool kids say, has been making the rounds all over major league baseball. He's been on the MLB Network, ESPN's E:60, and interviewed by the New York Times.

Alright Hamilton! got the chance to sit down with BSG. Well, we didn't get to literally sit down with him, but through the magic of the interwebs he did answer a few questions for us. Since BSG is a man in high demand these days, we decided to not ask the basic background questions, if you want to know those check out the NYT article and this one from Ball Hype.

Let's get it started.

AH: First and foremost, are you good at baseball?
BSG: Well, high school varsity was 1/2 my life ago. Better than people that stink.

AH: Whose stance does your "real stance" most resemble?
BSG: Ryne Sandberg

AH: Did you come up with the name "Batting Stance Guy," or how did that come about?
BSG: Once Bill Simmons ran it on his page for a few weeks a friend said, you should get battingstanceguy.com or something. Done. Thanks Jeff Hetschel.

AH: What would you be doing right now if YouTube didn't exist?
BSG: wow- that really made the difference. uhhh, not having MLB players introducing themselves to me, that's for sure. Not being in slo-mo on ESPN, and not studying Denard Span as closely.



AH: You always seem to have your black whiffle ball bat, how many of those do you have?, do you use a new one for every video?
BSG: Bought a lot of 6 on ebay. knew we'd need to break one in half for the Bo Jackson installment of the Royals video. I guess we didn't have enough left over for the Chili Davis strikeout bat breaking tantrum.

AH: I saw somewhere that you said your favorite team was the "Hrbek Twins," why the Twins and why Hrbek?
BSG: Somehow he became my favorite player in 83-84. I played firstbase and wore 14. Now, I wasn't into Pro Wrestling and didn't name my wrestling alter-ego T-Rex, but thought he was cool. Also- one of the first games I ever attended was at the old Metropolitan Stadium.

AH: Which Hrbek Twins team was your favorite the Hrbek and Gary Ward Twins or the Hrbek and Shane Mack Twins?
BSG: Love the baby blue road jerseys and the TC hats....but the Shane Mack era for sure.

AH: I know it's been talked about, but have you been approached by 2K sports or anybody about doing motion capture for future MLB video games?
BSG: Sony Playstation had me do the motion capturing for MLB '09 The Show. So, in the game, if Aki Iwamura appears to have the skills of a 35 year old college intramural softball player... well...

AH: Speaking of monetizing this "least marketable skill", have you thought of doing your videos in front of a wall with advertisements or anything?
BSG: A good idea. We've tried to have this whole thing be really organic and not become work or burdensome, so everything we've done has been solicited by others. The Twins, Dodgers, Brewers, Angels, Red Sox and Padres all contacted us. MLB Network, ESPN, Fox, Sony, Steiner Sports, Yardbarker & the NYTimes all approached us. Meaning we haven't tried to "milk" this thing for all we can. Trying to have fun with it and go with the opportunities that are presented.

AH: Has anyone ever asked you to imitate their kid's little league stance? I know one of our contributors, Haas, said he would give you a Cristian Guzman ball to imitate him.
BSG: Nice. Once I had a girl in a group ask for a bunch of old Brewers and when I did the requested Jim Gantner they all died laughing because the requester is Gantner's daughter. Hey, let's go Haas.

AH: Have you ever had requests for a players batting stance imitation that you've never heard of?
BSG: Usually, it's some dude saying John McDowell. I say, Don't know him...then the dudes boasts, "HaHa I stumped you! It's my cousin, he's in the Indians farm system." Uh, yeah dude, not really up to speed with the minors.

Hanging with Carlos Quentin, Dexter Fowler, Ryan Zimmerman, Mike Fontenot- they all asked for Jeff Larish and I hadn't seen him yet. He's a great one- dead still.

AH: You've been to every ballpark in Major league baseball. Do you remember the game at the dome and What did you think of it?
BSG: Well, I love it for the 87 & 91 series. The Puckett seat being a different color is great. Personally, I'll always vote for an outdoor stadium. I've probably seen 4 games there.

AH: Do you have any plans to visit the new Target field next year?
BSG: Love to. Remember, all this BSG stuff is just a ploy to get invited to Hrbek's 50th birthday next year.

AH: What were your favorite ball parks and what made them great?
BSG: Wrigley and Fenway for their classic nature. AT&T Park for its beauty. It is unbelievable.
Kaufman reminds me of my Little League field (hills, roads, trees, crowd size).

AH: Be honest, how many Batting Stance Guy Tote Bags have you sold?
BSG: The same number of times you've been to Anoka or Coon Rapids to meet girls.......dozens.

AH: Ron Coomer didn't seem too impressed with your interpretation of his stance, but most of the players seem to like it; have you ran into anyone that took offense to your impression of their batting stance?
BSG: Yesterday in the San Jose Mercury News this was written:

This has been viewed by virtually everyone in the Giants clubhouse, and his Rich Aurilia at the end gets the biggest laughs – except from Aurilia.
“It blows,” Aurilia said. “Everybody else gets a hit but I strike out.”

AH: You've been making the rounds to a lot of big league locker rooms, what team has been the best to be around?
BSG: Still surprised by the "what up" hug from Big Papi and 30 minute conversation with Kevin Youkilis. The Sox were great, but I met almost every Angel last year.

AH: What team sucked the most?
BSG: I had a really awkward conversation with Josh Beckett.

AH: You've been on ESPN and interviewed by the New York Times, besides us at Alright Hamilton!, what has been the best interview, video shoot etc, you have experienced so far?
BSG: Hanging with Papi, Youkilis, Pedroia, etc. was surreal. The MLB Network Reds piece with Barry Larkin & Sean Casey got the best response.

AH: Okay, last question, if your videos had a sound track what would it be?
BSG: Super Mario Bros. Something intrinsically uncool, yet, loaded with nostalgia and you find yourself humming it for years, while laughing.

AH: Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions.
BSG: No problem.

If you can't get enough of BSG, like us at AH! you can follow him on twitter or at his website.