Elbow Up

From The Rogue's Baseball Index

Elbow Up is that piece of conventional wisdom that refuses to die. It is a relic, a long-disproved catchphrase for parents and coaches to shout at unsuspecting children through chain-link fences and batting-cage nets. But like the game itself, the phrase carries on, its origins obscured by time, its original meaning clouded by use and misuse. Elbow Up is the Santa Clause of baseball. To accept that a ball can in fact be struck out of a lowered-elbow stance, that these words so entrenched by well-meaning adults are not in fact gospel, is to grow up.