--- title: Screwbats and Other Strange (Effective) Tools for Teaching Baseball description: A look at the weird -- and effective -- devices that a high school coach in the 1960s employed to turn his team into a perennial powerhouse. canonical: https://time.com/3881043/screwbats-and-other-strange-effective-tools-for-teaching-baseball/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-30T21:13:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:36.275Z og:title: Screwbats and Other Strange (Effective) Tools for Teaching Baseball og:description: A look at the weird -- and effective -- devices that a high school coach in the 1960s employed to turn his team into a perennial powerhouse. og:url: https://time.com/3881043/screwbats-and-other-strange-effective-tools-for-teaching-baseball/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8f497e610036d4a8/69884c8c06f2c1a5ba339c80/140920-unconventional-baseball-07.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2100 og:image:height: 1181 og:image:alt: Unconventional Baseball og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Screwbats and Other Strange (Effective) Tools for Teaching Baseball twitter:description: A look at the weird -- and effective -- devices that a high school coach in the 1960s employed to turn his team into a perennial powerhouse. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8f497e610036d4a8/69884c8c06f2c1a5ba339c80/140920-unconventional-baseball-07.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Screwbats' and Other Strange (But Effective) Tools for Teaching Baseball > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Sep 30, 2014 9:13 PM UTC  Caption from LIFE. The "screwbat," specially engineered to teach a hitter not to roll his wrists when he swings. Caption from LIFE. The "screwbat," specially engineered to teach a hitter not to roll his wrists when he swings. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Sep 30, 2014 9:13 PM UTC Anyone who has ever played even a few innings of [baseball](http://mlb.mlb.com/home) knows some things for certain about the game. For instance, hitting a round ball “squarely” with a cylinder is well-nigh impossible, as is sliding into a base without looking (and feeling) like a dysfunctional whirligig. Staying in the batter’s box when a breaking ball is headed for one’s head feels wholly unnatural. Chasing a shot hit deep into the gap, meanwhile, while running full-tilt toward an outfield fence can be downright nerve-wracking. Down through the years, of course, coaches have employed countless techniques, tactics and tools to help their players grow, at the very least, comfortable with the game’s infinite variables. But in a sport so endearingly perverse that a hitter who fails in seven out of 10 trips to the plate is considered something of a star, there’s only so much a coach can do. Enter John Herbold. A coach at California’s storied [Long Beach Polytechnic High School](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long%5FBeach%5FPolytechnic%5FHigh%5FSchool), Herbold began using the devices in this gallery—many of them thought up by Dodgers coach and celebrated hitting instructor [Kenny Meyers](http://articles.latimes.com/1996-05-02/local/me-65307%5F1%5Fkenny-myers)—in 1962\. The next year, Poly won the American Legion National Championship and, LIFE magazine wrote in a July 1966 article, “its teams have been winning titles ever since.” --- > “” --- ---  Not published in LIFE. Long Beach Polytechnic High School players practice using unconventional equipment such as tennis rackets, paddles and a volleyball, 1966. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Herbold cures Donzell McDonald of gun shyness by tying a rope around the player's foot. If McDonald backs away from a pitched ball, Herbold gives a sharp tug on the rope and tumbles the batter to the ground. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Long Beach Polytechnic High School baseball, 1966. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. With a ball stuck to the end of a stick, Herbold makes a batter kneel to break a bad habit of uppercutting the ball. When he does, his bat hits the ground. Flat surface on bat indicates area that should come in contact with the ball. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Long Beach Polytechnic High School baseball, 1966. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. To develop strength and stamina, Herbold loops an inner tube around waist of George Ambrow and hangs on while Ambrow tries to run. All Poly players must be fast enough to run a mile in six minutes before they make the team. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. The "screwbat," specially engineered to teach a hitter not to roll his wrists when he swings. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Long Beach Polytechnic High School baseball, 1966. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Long Beach Polytechnic High School baseball, 1966. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Jim Stanford flunks sliding test. If he came in flat on his back no soda pop would slosh out of the plastic tumblers. 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