Tom Emanski

Tom Emanski (born 26 February 1948 in Ridgewood, New Jersey) is a baseball coach and the man behind Tom Emanski Instructional Videos, a set of nine video tapes which lay out the fundamental techniques of baseball. The videos, sometimes referred to as "The Nine Commandments," have taught millions of youths worldwide how to play the sport of baseball and the commercial for this video has been running for nearly 18 years. Many viewers have memorized Emanski's commercial by heart, albeit unintentionally. Emanski is a former major league baseball associate scout and youth coach.

The Emanski videos are best known for their frequent and long-running commercials on ESPN and during Major League Baseball games. Featured in the commercials is former Major League Baseball star Fred McGriff. Fred McGriff met Emanski at age 18 when he was still in the minor leagues playing Winter Ball in Puerto Rico. Emanski videotaped McGriff's swing and offered to slow it down and analyze it.

In 1991, Emanski prepared to release his first videos and filmed a short endorsement clip in Chicago with McGriff, who was then with the San Diego Padres.[1] The commercial advertising Emanski's nine videos has been aired continually and relatively unchanged despite McGriff's multiple team-changes. Because of their frequent showings, Emanski's name has become synonymous with the fundamentals of baseball.

Emanski developed a "building block" approach to improve the fundamentals of hitting, running, and fielding. He tested his techniques on students at Baseball World, a youth baseball school in Fern Park, Florida. His teams found success winning back-to-back-to-back Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) national youth championships in three divisions: 12 and under (1990), 13 and under/under '90 (1991), and 11 and under (1992).[2] Emanski also coached the 1996 Junior Pan American team to two wins against Cuba and the gold medal.[3]

The frequent commercial airings have made the Emanski Videos widely known in the sports viewing world, and the instructional tapes have become fodder for sports analysts who wish to reference a lack of fundamental play in professional baseball players. During ESPN SportsCenter broadcasts, anchor Kenny Mayne would frequently comment during replays of a player error that "Perhaps he should watch Tom Emanski's Defensive Fundamentals tape. They're endorsed by MLB superstar Fred "The Crime Dog" McGriff." Jayson Stark also commented on St. Louis Cardinals' defensive lapses in the 2002 National League Championship Series[4] and a 2005 New York Times article suggested that New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez spend $29.95 and "buy the eminent baseball instructor Tom Emanski's DVD, 'Teaching the Mechanics of the Major League Swing II.'" [5]

In 2006, satirical news publication The Onion published an article about the hapless Kansas City Royals of MLB hiring Emanski to teach the team the fundamentals of baseball.[6] Emanski's staff of Garry Ridge, Teddy Craig, Scott Howat, and Jim Horvath are widely recognized across the country as one of the best baseball staffs.