4 ideas
Sadaharu Oh joined the Yomiuri Giants in 1959 but struggled as a hitter in his early seasons, troubled by a hitch that pulled his bat backward as he started his swing and delayed it. In 1962 batting coach Hiroshi Arakawa had him lift his front leg and stand on one foot, a 'flamingo' stance, and Oh hit a home run the day he first used it in a game. He went on to hit 868 home runs.
Ma is the aikido and kendo idea of the space and timing between two combatants. The skilled fighter does not react to the opponent's timing but draws the opponent into their own rhythm. Arakawa applied this to hitting: the batter should make the pitcher's delivery arrive inside the batter's patient waiting, rather than chasing the ball on the pitcher's schedule.
Arakawa added drills from other arts to Oh's extensive batting practice. Oh studied aikido to settle his center of gravity low in the body, and he cut suspended paper strips with a real sword as a check on whether his stroke was clean and exact. These methods worked together with baseball practice as further tests of balance and precision.
Following aikido, Oh came to see the pitcher as a partner whose strength he joined with his own, instead of an enemy to overpower. The outlook moved his attention away from beating the opponent and toward his own balance and readiness.