ODD PLAYING FIELDS SHAPING ATHLETES.
ODD PLAYING FIELDS SHAPING ATHLETES. A couple examples of professional athletes being permanently affected by the playing conditions of their youth:
Greg Gross was said to have hit primarily to the opposite field because as a boy he played on a playground that was long and narrow; he hit primarily to the opposite field because he was a left-handed hitter and the field was laid out by the kids to accommodate the right-handed hitters.
Tommy Heinsohn, who was a great shooter, had a very flat shot. I had heard that he played in gym with a low ceiling as a boy. This excerpt from Google Books from THE RIVALRY: BILL RUSSELL, WILT CHAMBERLAIN and the GOLDEN AGE of BASKETBALL by John Taylor confirms the story. Heinsohn played in a gym which had not only a low ceiling, but a pipe running under the ceiling. A boy had to choose either to shoot under the pipe or over the pipe. Heinsohn chose to shoot under it.