Hogan's left thumb - was it long or short

[tylerdurden]

I saw a old thread on this but it wasn't in Hogan's Heros so I wanted to bring it back up. Does anyone have a view on if Hogan played with a long or short left thumb grip?

 

I read in 5L that it is a short left thumb, and I am going to look into this tonight, but is that what he actually played with? It seems like a lot of people believe he played with a long left thumb.

[ej002]

He does say short thumb, but there are several pictures out there that appear to be long thumb. So... I am not sure you will get a verdict on this one.

[svsvincenzo]

Hogan didn't say "short thumb". He said "modified short thumb". He described it as a long thumb, but he pulled it 1/2 inch. So it's not really a "short thumb", strictly speaking. It's indeed a "MODIFIED short thumb".

[Guia]

I saw him once, he had normal thumbs.

How do you get a modified short thumb???????? Ridiculous.

[inmens]

Short or long, he surely had a strong left thumb.

[svsvincenzo]

[quote name='Guia' timestamp='1337216282' post='4928234']
I saw him once, he had normal thumbs.

How do you get a modified short thumb???????? Ridiculous.
[/quote]

Should have been "1/2-inch shortened long thumb"...lol

[tembolo1284]

Just think he had it more diagonally in his hand. Gave the appearance of a shorter thumb. It's not though.

[ej002]

I don't know, the way he talks about the affect of his adjustment makes me thing it was shorter. Long thumb would add to inconsistency, no?

I think it has been suggested on here, that he moved it during the swing... which IMO is just ridiculous.

[svsvincenzo]

[quote name='ej002' timestamp='1337353239' post='4937520']
I don't know, the way he talks about the affect of his adjustment makes me thing it was shorter. Long thumb would add to inconsistency, no?

I think it has been suggested on here, that he moved it during the swing... which IMO is just ridiculous.
[/quote]


If we will read 5L again, Hogan said he had a long left thumb before, and he said a long thumb is that wherein "the L thumb fully extended down the shaft". He made adjustments. He said he changed it to a, and this is his exact words: "modified 'L thumb'. " The adjustment was, in his exact words: "contracting my L thumb and pulling it up a half inch".


Henceforth, legend says that Hogan had a "short thumb"....lol

[ej002]

[attachment=1169782:grip.jpg]This looks short to me.

Also at the 8:55 mark, that looks short to me. But we had no definition of what short is. But here his thumb barely goes further down the shaft than the index finger's position. The thumb is about a half inch or so futher down (outside) than his index finger. I think that is pretty short. Also, you can see the pressure point is on the thumbprint portion of the thumb, not on the boney-joint portion associate with longer thumb grips. Also, longer thumb guys have it more in the palm, you can see the diagonal-ness (if that is word) of his grip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkkowK-F_xo

[chrisgilly09]

He had big hands for his size so I'll say its a long thumb lol.

[tylerdurden]

[quote name='ej002' timestamp='1337361741' post='4938284']
[attachment=1169782:grip.jpg]This looks short to me.

Also at the 8:55 mark, that looks short to me. But we had no definition of what short is. But here his thumb barely goes further down the shaft than the index finger's position. The thumb is about a half inch or so futher down (outside) than his index finger. I think that is pretty short. Also, you can see the pressure point is on the thumbprint portion of the thumb, not on the boney-joint portion associate with longer thumb grips. Also, longer thumb guys have it more in the palm, you can see the diagonal-ness (if that is word) of his grip.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkkowK-F_xo"]http://www.youtube.c...h?v=rkkowK-F_xo[/url]
[/quote]

That's such great footage. Thanks for posting.

[Iggypop]

Luther Blacklock describes an overswing with the early "long" thumb being corrected by shortening the thumb later in his career. Indeed he stated that a lot of Tigers issues where due to a long thumb in an article a few years back.
Top Hogan disciple and he has a DVD on the 5 keys as we could interpret them now - with the short thumb being a major point...

[svsvincenzo]

[quote name='ej002' timestamp='1337361741' post='4938284']
[attachment=1169782:grip.jpg]This looks short to me.

Also at the 8:55 mark, that looks short to me. But we had no definition of what short is. But here his thumb barely goes further down the shaft than the index finger's position. The thumb is about a half inch or so futher down (outside) than his index finger. I think that is pretty short. Also, you can see the pressure point is on the thumbprint portion of the thumb, not on the boney-joint portion associate with longer thumb grips. Also, longer thumb guys have it more in the palm, you can see the diagonal-ness (if that is word) of his grip.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkkowK-F_xo"]http://www.youtube.c...h?v=rkkowK-F_xo[/url]
[/quote]


If one has a bigger L hand, bigger palm and/or longer fingers than Hogan, and you exactly copy his L hand grip instructions, I mean EXACTLY...Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will end up having a putter grip....lol

[jak_bot]

You pull the left thumb up and the knuckle of the left index goes down creating the perfect nook for the overlapping with the right pinky.