Walt Hriniak's Bird's-Eye View of His Future

He studied the strike zone from all angles

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1970 Topps Walt Hriniak (#392) - Card of the Day

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If you were a baseball fan in the 1980s and 1990s, the recent focus on “launch angle” might make you smirk. Or maybe nod your head in a, “see, I told you so” type of movement.

Sort of depends on where you fall on the Ted Williams-Walt Hriniak spectrum.

To oversimplify and get some stuff wrong, basically Hriniak came to prominence as the Red Sox hitting coach in the mid-1980s. He was a “disciple” of Charlie Lau, who had helped future Hall of Famers like George Brett, Carlton Fisk, Harold Baines, and Reggie Jackson put together some of their big seasons at the plate.

Hriniak, meanwhile, made his mark with BoSox hitters like Wade Boggs, Dwight Evans, and Carl Yastrszemski. After changing his Sox in 1989, Hriniak also worked with the Big Hurt, Frank Thomas.

The Splendid Splinter entered the conversation even as Boston was seemingly thriving under Hriniak’s watchful (batting) eye. Citing the hitting coach’s advice to “swing down” on the ball, hit up the middle, and release the top hand when swinging through a pitch, Williams warned that Hriniak’s approach was robbing batter’s of their power.

Hriniak mostly shrugged off Williams’ criticisms, but he did call them oversimplifications (see, I told you).

But…you probably knew all that already. After all, if you weren’t a baseball fan in the 1980s or 1990s, the chances you landed here today are about the same as my becoming the first American pope.

Now, if you were also a baseball fan in the early 1970s, and if you were especially observant, and if you didn’t blink, you might also remember that Walt Hriniak was once a big league player.

Or, more accurately, he was 47 times a big league player.

Signed out of high school by the Milwaukee Braves in 1961, Hriniak spent seven long years in the minors before finally making his big league debut in September 1968…for the Atlanta Braves.

He hit .346 in nine games for the Braves that month, then skipped the minors for the first time ever the next year. But after hitting .143 in seven appearances as a catcher and pinch hitter early in 1969, Hriniak was gone on June 13 — traded along with Andy Finlay and Van Kelly to the expansion San Diego Padres for Tony Gonzalez. Apparently tight end was a baseball position back then?

Anyway…

Hriniak hit .227 in 31 games for the Padres, taking the field for the last time on September 30.

That combined showing in 1969 was enough for Topps to grant Hriniak his first solo card in 1970 (after a three-player rookie card in ‘69), as you see above. As things played out, that gray-bordered beauty was also his career-capper.

After a full season at Triple-A Salt Lake City in 1970, the Padres traded Hriniak back to the Braves for Richard Wilson. Atlanta sent the future hitting guru to Double-A Savannah in 1971, then released him in July. He signed with the Expos in August and spent the next two-plus seasons in the Montreal system before trading his tools of ignorance for chalk.

That’s because Hriniak made it back to the majors in 1974 as manager Gene Mauch’s first base coach in Montreal. It was only up — and back, to the batting cage — from there for Hriniak’s coaching career.

Today, the coach of Hall of Fame hitters in multiple cities, who might one day land his own Cooperstown plaque, turns 82 years old.

The Ill-Gotten Splendid Splinter Relic

Williams figured prominently in a pivotal moment of hobby history, and it all revolved around his 1954 Bowman baseball card, which was never allowed to exist.

But did…and helped hasten the downfall of Topps’ only real competition for the first 30 years or so of their hobby presence.

Read all about this iconic Williams card right here.