Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Attempting to explain John McEnroe's stunning fastball


Last night, John McEnroe three out the first pitch at the Mets game.  It was amazing.  Not in a sarcastic way as these stories usually go--it was legitimately spectacular:


Like Darren Rovell suggested, that was probably the best ceremonial first pitch I've ever seen.  Johnny Mac is 57 years old.  How the $#!* did he do that?  I'm not going to get all Sports Science-y on you (I can't stand that guy), but as a former tennis coach/player I have a couple quick thoughts on the matter:

1. A tennis serve is a fairly similar motion to pitching.  Anybody who knows how to serve well is undoubtedly going to be much better than average at throwing a baseball.

2. Tennis is a sport you play your whole life.  Obviously McEnroe is retired, but he's still in game shape.  He just took the court for a semi-serious exhibition match against a former pro 12 years younger than him two days ago (and won).



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