"I also think that I had great mechanics"
About this Quote
“I also think that I had great mechanics” is the kind of sentence only a Hall of Fame pitcher can toss off without sounding delusional. Dennis Eckersley isn’t bragging for sport; he’s staking a claim about craft in a profession that’s usually framed around mystique: clutch, guts, “nasty” stuff. Mechanics is the unsexy word that turns baseball from folklore into repeatable labor. It’s what makes dominance feel earned rather than gifted.
The small hinge is “also.” It implies a conversation already in motion, a list of reasons offered up by others: velocity, mentality, late movement, intimidation, the swagger of the ninth inning. Eckersley slides mechanics into that pile as if it’s a footnote, but it’s really the skeleton key. Great mechanics explain longevity, reinvention, and the ability to locate under pressure. They’re the difference between a pitcher who occasionally catches lightning and one who can manufacture it.
Context matters, too. Eckersley’s career is essentially a narrative of adjustment: a frontline starter who later became the definitive modern closer, the kind of player whose identity shifted without collapsing. That arc makes “mechanics” sound like self-knowledge, not self-congratulation. It’s a quiet rebuttal to the idea that relief pitching is just attitude and adrenaline. Under the highlight-reel snarl is a body doing the same precise thing again and again, so the moment can look effortless.
The small hinge is “also.” It implies a conversation already in motion, a list of reasons offered up by others: velocity, mentality, late movement, intimidation, the swagger of the ninth inning. Eckersley slides mechanics into that pile as if it’s a footnote, but it’s really the skeleton key. Great mechanics explain longevity, reinvention, and the ability to locate under pressure. They’re the difference between a pitcher who occasionally catches lightning and one who can manufacture it.
Context matters, too. Eckersley’s career is essentially a narrative of adjustment: a frontline starter who later became the definitive modern closer, the kind of player whose identity shifted without collapsing. That arc makes “mechanics” sound like self-knowledge, not self-congratulation. It’s a quiet rebuttal to the idea that relief pitching is just attitude and adrenaline. Under the highlight-reel snarl is a body doing the same precise thing again and again, so the moment can look effortless.
Quote Details
| Topic | Training & Practice |
|---|
More Quotes by Dennis
Add to List
