Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb starred in odd instructional film (Video)

Long before Tom Emanski educated aspiring baseball players with a series of instructional videos — and became a television icon with their accompanying 30-second ads — it appears some of baseball’s all-time greats had already explored that market. 

During a recent tour of MLB Productions’ headquarters, Grantland’s Jonah Keri unearthed video footage of Babe Ruth, Ty Cobbs, Watler Johnson and Dazzy Vance starring in a baseball instructional film, which we honestly hope was designed to feature both the dos and don’ts of our grand game. 

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We suggest the latter, because as Ted Berg of For The Win points out, both Ruth and Cobb look the opposite of fundamentally sound during the brief two-minute, 28-second clip. It appears at least some of the footage was taken during batting practice, and it’s during those swings that two of baseball’s greatest hitters looked completely and impossibly off-balance and undisciplined.

However, quick messages that flash across the screen before certain swings seem to suggest that no, these are exactly what sound and productive swings are supposed to look like.

For example, at 0:53, a message reading “Why is Babe Ruth still the home run king?” comes across before Ruth mistimes a swing and pops it straight up on the infield. A swing so lacking, if his name was Willie Mays Hayes and his manager was Lou Brown, he would have been doing 20 push ups on the spot.

Another quick graphic reading “Perfect timing with terrific power under control.” immediately follows. On the next pitch shown, Ruth promptly gets out on his front foot early, loses his footing completely and rolls over an easy grounder on the infield.

“His powerful body backs up the blow at just the right time.”

Those expecting a powerful and compact swing were disappointed once more. Instead, Ruth reaches and swings wildly at a pitch that’s outside, nearly corkscrewing himself into the ground.

That one was predictably fouled behind the plate.

For the most part, players from the era did actually wing it out there, and for Ruth and Cobb that ultimately led to legendary results. However, one would think they could have captured a more classic looking swings from both.

Perhaps we’ve been duped and this was actually filmed as a spoof all along. Or perhaps both men just had a bad day at the office and the producer was forced to make due. Either way, it makes for unique and obviously historic viewing.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813