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​​​​​​​​​​LEFTHANDED BASEBALL

The Best Lefthanded Batters and Lefthanded Pitchers in Baseball

Of the 186 position players in the Hall of Fame, 78 of them are lefthanded batters. ​

Of the 20 catchers in the Hall of Fame, 5 of them are lefthanded batters.  These 4 lefthanded batting catchers are Yogi Berra, Mickey Cochrane, Bill Dickey, Louis Santop and Joe Mauer.

Of the 20 second-basemen in the Hall of Fame, 5 of them are lefthanded batters.  These 5 lefthanded batting second-basemen are Eddie Collins, Johnny Evers, Nellie Fox, Charlie Gehringer & Joe Morgan.

Of the 26 shortstops in the Hall of Fame, 4 of them are lefthanded batters.  These 4 lefthanded batting shortstops are Pop Lloyd, Joe Sewell, Arky Vaughan & John Ward.

Of the 17 third-basemen in the Hall of Fame, 6 of them are lefthanded batters.  These 6 lefthanded batting third-basemen are Frank “Home Run” Baker, Wade Boggs, George Brett, Eddie Matthews, Deacon White & Jud Wilson.

​Of course, none of the players at any of these four positions throw lefthanded because
there are no lefthanded catchers, second-baseman, shortstop, or third-baseman, in baseball. 

Tony Oliva            Fred McGriff            David Ortiz               Joe Mauer            Todd Helton            Jim Kaat

Of the 84 pitchers in the Hall of Fame, 18 of them are lefthanded pitchers

Those 18 lefthanded pitchers are Steve Carlton, Andy Cooper, Whitey Ford, Bill Foster, Tom Glavine, Lefty Gomez, Lefty Grove, Carl Hubbell, Randy Johnson, Jim Kaat, Sandy Koufax, Rube Marquard, Hal Newhouser, Herb Pennock, Eddie Plank, Eppa Rixey, Warren Spahn, and Rube Waddell.

Click here to read about most of these pitchers and their accomplishments

​Lefthanders in the Baseball Hall of Fame

​​Of the 27 first-basemen in the Hall of Fame, 14 of them are lefthanded batters.  These 13 lefthanded batting first-basemen are Jake Beckley, Jim Bottomley, Dan Brouthers, Rod CarewLou Gehrig, Buck Leonard, Willie McCovey, Johnny Mize, George Sisler, Ben Taylor, Bill Terry, Jim Thome, Fred McGriff and Todd Helton.

Of the 74 outfielders in the Hall of Fame, 42 are lefthanded batters.  Richie Ashburn, Earl Averill, Lou Brock, Jesse Burkett, Oscar Charleston, Fred Clarke, Ty Cobb, Earle Combs, Larry Doby, Sam Crawford, Elmer Flick, Goose Goslin, Ken Griffey Jr, Tony Gwynn, Billy Hamilton, Pete Hill, Harry Hooper, Reggie Jackson, Willie Keeler, Chuck Klein, Heinie Manush, Stan Musial, Tony Oliva, Mel Ott, Sam Rice, Edd Roush, Babe Ruth, Enos Slaughter, Duke Snider, Tris Speaker, Willie Stargell, Turkey Stearnes, Sam Thompson, Cristobal Torriente, Larry Walker, Lloyd Waner, Paul Waner, Zack Wheat, Billy Williams, Ted Williams, Ross Youngs, and Carl Yastrzemski.  

Of the 3 designated hitters in the Hall of Fame, 2 of them are lefthanded batters.  David Ortiz was a lefthanded throwing first-baseman in the early part of his career, and Harold Baines was a lefthanded throwing outfielder in the early part of his, but the Hall of Fame considers designated hitter as the position they played most often.

Congratulations to the most recent lefthanded inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame, 

The 2024 class included Todd Helton and Joe Mauer

The 2023 class included Fred McGriff

The 2022 class included David Ortiz, Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat