In 1948 Gordon changed his approach to hitting under the guidance of Giant coach Red Kress. As Gordon recalled, "Before 1948 I could hit a fairly long ball, but it always went to right or right-center. At the Polo Grounds, right-center is just a big out. Red Kress, a coach on the Giants, used to get me to pull the ball to left. He started out by moving my right-hand grip on the bat around a little and he opened up my stance – I now put my left foot toward third when I hit. I learned to roll my wrists more and to step into the ball. Pretty soon I was dropping them in left. Red spent hours working with me on it. I can't give him enough credit."