Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

I remember Greg Harris switch pitching for Boston one year

Yeah, if I remember correctly Harris was quite good at it, but Boston wouldn't let him do it in a game for lack of proper insurance coverage. Of course, this from the same team who once let Canseco pitch late in a meaningless game, resulting in injury.

Ah yes, the Terry Kennedy era...

I used to practice switch pitching in high school...nasty curve from the left side and wild head-hunting heat from the right...the glove was the issue though...I chopped up a nice Wilson A2000 to be wearable (barely) on either hand...it was awkward to say the least...the first and only time I tried it in a game situation, the other manager complained and my glove was tossed out...stupid move on his part: I probably would have walked half the batters I faced...coach was just relenting after i bugged him for three years...

I'm actually surprised there aren't more (any) switch pitchers...the NBA is full of players who can shoot jumpers accurately with either hand...

ah, reminiscing...

Shooting with both hands is a lot easier than pitching with both arms, since shooting is primarily wrist action and those who use both hands generally don't shoot from great distances. Pitching uses the whole body: legs, hips, shoulder, arms, wrists and fingers. It's extremely hard to develop the necessary muscle memory to be able to go both ways effectively. The effects on a basketball of such things as grip from 8- to 12-feet away are substantially less than those on a baseball thrown from 60-6.

[quote:2bc8eadcc5="bigmahon"]Yeah, if I remember correctly Harris was quite good at it, but Boston wouldn't let him do it in a game for lack of proper insurance coverage. Of course, this from the same team who once let Canseco pitch late in a meaningless game, resulting in injury.

Ah yes, the Terry Kennedy era...[/quote:2bc8eadcc5]

Big, Canseco blew out his arm pitching for the Rangers, not Boston. He also has a dent in the top of his head playing LF for the Rangers! :P LOL!

Harris' unusual ability to pitch with both hands led to some tension between him and the Red Sox, who forbade the ambidextrous hurler from throwing lefty. GM Lou Gorman insisted it would "make a mockery" of the game, leading Harris to grumble, "Boston is so conservative. People are afraid to try anything." In a muted show of defiance, Harris usually chose to wear an ambidextrous glove on the mound.

But just before his retirement, while pitching for the Expos in 1995, the veteran hurler finally became the only twentieth-century pitcher to throw from both sides of the mound. After Harris (pitching righty) retired Reggie Sanders to start off the ninth inning of a game against the Cincinnati Reds on September 28, 1995, he turned around to face the left-handed Hal Morris.

Harris issued a free pass, thus becoming the first ambidextrous major-league pitcher since Elton "Ice Box" Chamberlain of the American Association in 1888. Nerve-wracked, he stayed a southpaw and induced a ground-out from Eddie Taubensee, closing out the inning by retiring Bret Boone as a righty. The last pitcher to use both hands in a pro game had been Bert Campaneris, who did so in 1962 while playing for Daytona Beach in the Florida State League. (JCA/JGR)

Who would be stuck sticking to a particular side?

I can both switch hit and switch pitch........

IN WIFFLE BALL.


Go me go me go me

LMAO :P

wouldnt work in strat because hal would screw it up