Greenleaf: Pool's Greatest Champion

SlickRick_PCS

SlickRick_PCS

Pool, Snooker, Carom
Silver Member
So, I finished off reading this ebook of the legacy of Ralph Greenleaf written by Sam Korte. It was everything that I would have anticipated what Greenleaf was, but there were parts I never realized he did. The battle between Frank Taberski was something so many of us can relate to (can't spoil it). The only criticism I can make is that I felt it needed a bit more... but, suffice to say, that it is inevitable because that was all that was recorded by Greenleaf. I recommend any billiard player who REALLY wants to know about the history as well as the roller-coaster life of Willie Mosconi's predecessor should definitely get this book, Greenleaf: Pool's Greatest Champion . Sam, well done on this book! May 14.1 Continuous have a resurgence in popularity.
 
I agree. A bit short, especially considering the general billiards info obviously included to make the book more appealing to non-playing general public. But, no complaints since so little detail of his life was previously available. An easy read, and well done.
 
I plan to dive into it and read it soon. One of my favorite players that I never got to see play obviously but he seemed to be quite character.
 
Fast Lenny said:
I plan to dive into it and read it soon. One of my favorite players that I never got to see play obviously but he seemed to be quite character.
Click to expand...
His ‘chicken-wing’ style of play sure throws a monkey wrench into the ‘fulcrum-mechanics‘ school of training!
 
I just finished the book and I enjoyed it very much- a keeper in my pool bio library- I did not realize how dominating Greenleaf was both as a pool player and as a national sports leader during his hey day.

Hard to imagine that he could rebound from years of abusing himself and still , almost to the end of his life, play Mosconi, who was in his prime, in such close battles. After the book, I am almost inclined to believe that, had Greenleaf not battled the bottle, nobody would have ever been considered his equal in pool.
 
DynoDan said:
His ‘chicken-wing’ style of play sure throws a monkey wrench into the ‘fulcrum-mechanics‘ school of training!
Click to expand...
I have never seen clips of him playing- can you please describe his shooting form? Was it a severe elbow drop upon delivery of the cue stick to the cue ball? What is chicken wing pool form?
 
mikemosconi said:
I have never seen clips of him playing- can you please describe his shooting form? Was it a severe elbow drop upon delivery of the cue stick to the cue ball? What is chicken wing pool form?
Click to expand...

google is your friend.

There are many Greenleaf videos, here's just one:


Lou Figueroa
 
His pre shot aiming routine, while down on the ball, is strange by modern standards. He rapidly wobbles the cue up and down before his backstroke.
 
Thanks for the video! Greenleaf has an interesting approach- never quite seen that kind of pre- stroke wobble exactly the way he does it. As for the stroke itself- there are so many variations to a cue stroke that can actually produce a very high success rate- but the one thing that they all have in common is that the cue stick passes through the cue ball in a straight line to the intended aiming point.

Of course, certain stroke mechanics would have a higher probability of achieving the desired results and can be taught, but the many variations in world champions prove that none of it is set in stone.

Now I get the chicken wing reference - quite amusing! A really good book for any true pool enthusiast to read and enjoy! I think what impressed me the most about the book was how Greenleaf could recover from his destructive lifestyle enough to compete convincingly against Mosconi in Mosconi's prime. Hats off to Greenleaf!
 
mikemosconi said:
Thanks for the video! Greenleaf has an interesting approach- never quite seen that kind of pre- stroke wobble exactly the way he does it. As for the stroke itself- there are so many variations to a cue stroke that can actually produce a very high success rate- but the one thing that they all have in common is that the cue stick passes through the cue ball in a straight line to the intended aiming point.

Of course, certain stroke mechanics would have a higher probability of achieving the desired results and can be taught, but the many variations in world champions prove that none of it is set in stone.

Now I get the chicken wing reference - quite amusing! A really good book for any true pool enthusiast to read and enjoy! I think what impressed me the most about the book was how Greenleaf could recover from his destructive lifestyle enough to compete convincingly against Mosconi in Mosconi's prime. Hats off to Greenleaf!
Click to expand...
I suspect that those players who were ‘naturals’, and thus became ‘child prodigy‘ stars when very young, could likely never quite outgrow the sidearm stroke that was forced on them due to being so short. Players not so initially talented, probably worked to improve their stroke mechanics over the years, along with everything else. But as they say, “if it ain’t broke.....etc.”. No incentive to work on form mechanics when you never lose! Ralph‘s fulcrum likely dropped some and became more perpendicular as he grew taller, though he probably never gave it a second thought. It’s as if some sort of childhood ‘muscle memory’ had left him with a rather undecided quirkiness in his stroke (?).
 
I've always surmised whenever I've heard people debate Ralph Greenleaf vs. Willie Mosconi as follows:
Greenleaf was the Babe Ruth of our sport. Prior to the Babe in baseball, players won home run titles with very few hit. Babe came along and dominated with 40-60 home-run years - unheard of for that time. Babe was the home run pioneer. In the same way, Greenleaf introduced the high run. No one was running whole games before Ralph came on the scene. Ralph was the high-run pioneer for our sport. Willie - in the next generation - took it to an even higher level. So it's tough to really compare one more favorably over the other. Everyone's got stories of watching Mosconi's run-outs in the 1000s of exhibitions he did (pros don't have that opportunity as much these days in the present pool culture). And that's pretty amazing, because he made these runs on different equipment every night. I met a gentleman from Oshkosh WI a couple weeks ago, and he recalled when Mosconi gave an exhibition at UW-Oshkosh when he went to school there. According to him, the top 4 players in school got to challenge Willie....and none of them got to shoot. Willie ran 150 + out against each player! I guess Willie liked THAT equipment! - John Lewis
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top