David Peters is out to show that left is all right on the diamond.
The longtime baseball fan and engineering professor at Washington University in St. Louis has the numbers to show that baseball is a game for the southpaw. His research — which can be found on the school’s website at — got the folks at Cooperstown thinking.
Of the 61 enshrined pitchers, 13 are left-handed, according to John Odell, curator of history and research at the Hall of Fame.
The numbers for hitters were even more startling. Odell said 71 Hall of Fame position players batted right-handed, 59 left-handed and eight were switch-hitters.
Among the lefty hitters are some of the game’s greatest names: Babe Ruth (above), Ted Williams, Ty Cobb, Stan Musial, Barry Bonds and George Brett.
“Ninety percent of the human population is right-handed, but in baseball 25 percent of the players, both pitchers and hitters, are left-handed,” Peters said. “Do lefties have an advantage? They definitely do.”
The Associated Press
