Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

I've just realized that Martin Dihigo's two hitting cards disagree on an important fact. Dihigo's original 5.65M NeL card (which covers his whole career) lists him as a switch-hitter. And his pitcher's card shows him also as a switch-hitter. On the other hand, his 1927 ATG8 card lists him as a RH hitter. Which was he?

Curiously, the sources I've checked disagree. He was definitely a RH thrower. All the sources agree on that--and any way he was also a successful RH pitcher.

But what about as a hitter. The Hall of Fame's Dihigo webpage lists him as a righty batter. http://baseballhall.org/hof/dihigo-martin
So does the Negro League eMuseum: http://coe.k-state.edu/annex/nlbemuseum/history/players/dihigo.html and so does his main page at Baseball-Reference: http://www.baseball-reference.com/nlb/player.cgi?id=dihigo002mar
OTOH, Dihigo's baseball reference biography page lists him as a switch-hitter: http://www.baseball-reference.com.. One wonders if they have any solid source information that backs this up.

It's also possible that he switch-hit some of the time. He was incredibly versatile, pitching, hitting, and playing most every position in the field. So it's not impossible that he would go back and forth on his hitting style. Maybe he batted right in 1927, but not at other times in his career?

Does anyone have any definite information on this? I am tempted to email SOM and ask them to address the question, but it would be nice to have some fully reliable data before I proceed.

The whole thing does seem to point the the comparatively sketchy information we have on the Negro Leagues.

I had the same luck researching it---most sources list him as a RH batter.

I did run across this apocryphal quote supposedly by Johnny Mize, "Dihigo was the only guy I ever saw who could play all nine positions, manage, run and switch-hit." This hyperbole sounds more like an ode to the greatness and versatility of Dihigo than actual data that he was a switch-hitter, though he may have tried it from time to time.

Thanks Andy,

I've been doing some further rummaging on the web and it seems like that Mize quote is the main source being used to support the notion that Dihigo was a switch hitter. Many respectable sources cite that statement, including Bill James's New Historical Abstract. But other sources do indeed refer to it as apocryphal and cast doubt on whether Dihigo and Mize ever played together in the Dominican League, as the full quote claims. Also, all the photos I've found of Dihigo (at least a half dozen) show him batting righty.

Well, in the absence of definite evidence supporting the idea that he was a switch hitter, I think I be inclined to regard the HOF website and the Negro League eMuseum as authoritative in their claim that Dihigo was a right hand hitter.

Also, it may be telling that SOM's most recent card has him as a righty--the earlier card may be reflecting a fallacious idea that has since been contradicted. On this thread http://www.somers.activeboard.com/t47126794/martin-dihigo-switch-hitter-or-right-handed-batter/?page=1 (the most detailed discussion I've found), SOM players are complaining that the earlier Dihigo card has it wrong. Maybe SOM took this under advisement when they researched the new card.

BTW, Dihigo emerges as a fascinating person the more I learn about him. He was born in Cuba and was by all accounts highly intelligent, charming, and politically aware--as well as multi-talented. He played all over Latin America as well as in the US Negro Leagues and is the only player in the American, Cuban and Mexican Baseball Halls of Fame.

Thanks to both of you for this information. I had noticed the discrepancy but was too busy (lazy?) to research it.

Also, the first Dihigo card we got was one of those amalgamated NeL cards that combined or averaged season totals, and it's possible Dihigo may have attempted switch-hitting in one of those season.

One should also consider Shane Victorino.

As far as I know, Shane has only batted right-handed this season, after a long career as a switch-hitter.

As Andy alludes, it's more than possible that he batted left-handed occasionally (maybe against Frank Wickware?), which would make him a switch-hitter in those seasons.