# Has there ever been a switch pitcher in baseball? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 5, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-switch-pitcher-in-baseball/359433 "2006-06-05T02:07:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DadWagonDriver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@DadWagonDriver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DadWagonDriver)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-switch-pitcher-in-baseball/359433/1 "2006-06-05T02:07:51Z")
The thread title kind of says it all. Has there ever been a pitcher who could throw both left and right? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-switch-pitcher-in-baseball/359433/2 "2006-06-05T02:39:06Z")
Greg Harris of the Expos pitched right- and left-handed in an inning once in a game against the Cincinnati Reds on September 28, 1995 [Three others](http://www.futilityinfielder.com/archives/2002_04_28_futility_archive.html) did it in the 19th century. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-switch-pitcher-in-baseball/359433/3 "2006-06-05T02:39:45Z")
[One](http://www.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/news/mlb_news_story.jsp?article_id=mlb_20000303_holtzman_cols&team_id=mlb) ---
**Author:** ![TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoneyKingofNowhere)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-switch-pitcher-in-baseball/359433/4 "2006-06-05T15:06:10Z")
There’s currently a kid pitching at the Univ of Creighton that does this: [Link](http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=87131) ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-switch-pitcher-in-baseball/359433/5 "2006-06-05T15:42:57Z")
This is an old memory, one for which I can’t find a cite. I remember Sammy Stewart, a pretty good relief pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles from the late 70s to the mid 80s, trying to do this in a game and being forced to stop by the umpire. As I recall, he took the glove from his left hand, put it on his right, and began his windup with the ball in his left. The ump called time before he threw the pitch and told him to cease and desist at the risk of expulsion. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-switch-pitcher-in-baseball/359433/6 "2006-06-05T18:45:18Z")
What rule might he have been violating? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-switch-pitcher-in-baseball/359433/7 "2006-06-05T18:54:40Z")
Jerome Holtzman, [A Lesson in Switch Pitching](http://www.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/news/mlb_news_story.jsp?article_id=mlb_20000303_holtzman_cols&team_id=mlb): > [@](#): > > American League president Dr. Bobby Brown, a one-time Yankee infielder who batted .349 in 17 World Series games, was aware a two-way pitcher would have a rare advantage and would neutralize and diminish the effectiveness of every batter. Unwilling to weaken his kinship with the offense, Dr. Brown prepared for the possibility by issuing a directive to his umpires: > > a) The pitcher must indicate which hand he intended to use. > b) The pitcher may change arms on the next hitter but must indicate the arm to be used. > c) There will be no warmup pitches between the change of arms. > d) If an arm is injured, the pitcher may change arms and the umpire must be notified of the injury. The injured arm can not be used again in that game. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-switch-pitcher-in-baseball/359433/8 "2006-06-05T20:14:46Z")
In my years of umpiring Little League baseball, I’ve seen one ambidextrous player. The kid played shortstop right handed, and pitched left handed. I don’t think he ever switched while on the mound, though. ---
**Author:** ![DadWagonDriver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@DadWagonDriver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DadWagonDriver)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-switch-pitcher-in-baseball/359433/9 "2006-06-06T00:23:51Z")
Wow, thanks for the great info guys. My dad and I were scouring our brains all day yesterday trying to think of an example. ---
**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-switch-pitcher-in-baseball/359433/10 "2006-06-06T04:54:48Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > In my years of umpiring Little League baseball, I’ve seen one ambidextrous player. The kid played shortstop right handed, and pitched left handed. I don’t think he ever switched while on the mound, though. It’s not too uncommon for a player to bat lefthanded and field right-handed. I know my dad does, because when he was growing up and playing with his friends, he could never find a left-handed glove to borrow. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-switch-pitcher-in-baseball/359433/11 "2006-06-06T05:13:41Z")
What are rare are players who bat righthanded and throw lefthanded. Rickey Henderson is one of the most famous players to do that. ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-switch-pitcher-in-baseball/359433/12 "2006-06-06T10:37:06Z")
> [@BobT](#): > > What are rare are players who bat righthanded and throw lefthanded. Rickey Henderson is one of the most famous players to do that. Slightly related hijack… In Cricket, South Africa’s Gary Kirsten used to bat left-handed and throw and bowl right-handed. I believe that his father taught him to do so from an early age as most bowlers are used to (and therefore prefer/are better at) bowling to right-handed batsmen, and so to bat left-handed was an advantage. Grim ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-switch-pitcher-in-baseball/359433/13 "2006-06-06T11:02:50Z")
> [@grimpixie](#): > > Slightly related hijack… > > In Cricket, South Africa’s Gary Kirsten used to bat left-handed and throw and bowl right-handed. I believe that his father taught him to do so from an early age as most bowlers are used to (and therefore prefer/are better at) bowling to right-handed batsmen, and so to bat left-handed was an advantage. > > Grim In fact, this is extremely common. OTOMH I can think of the following left-hand batsmen who bowl/bowled right-handed: Brian Close Chris Old Graham Dilley Jamie Anderson Graham Thorpe Mark Butcher David Gower (not that he ever bowled if he could help it) Marcus Trescothick Clive Lloyd and some right-hand batsmen who bowled left-handed: Denis Compton Derek Underwood John Lever Alan Mullally Ashley Giles Phil Tufnell Many of the above are much more famous for batting than bowling, or vice versa, but all have bowled at least once at international level. There are many more examples that I could come up with if I did a little research. I have a vague notion that right/right is the commonest combination and left/left is the rarest. In addition to left-handed batsmen being a slightly unusual proposition for bowlers to face, there is a technical advantage to batting “wrong”-handed - the strong hand is on top of the handle and in control of the shot. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-switch-pitcher-in-baseball/359433/14 "2006-06-06T15:26:02Z")
> [@easy e](#): > > It’s not too uncommon for a player to bat lefthanded and field right-handed. It’s relatively easy to learn to bat from either side of the plate; but almost everyone will throw with their dominant hand (the one they write with); largely because there’s no particular advantage to throwing RH vs LH. So someone who can throw with either hand is truly rare. (But LH shortstops, second basemen and catchers are extremely rare. I just umpired a game with a LH catcher, and it was freaky.)