Batter's Box Interactive Magazine Batter's Box Interactive Magazine Batter's Box Interactive Magazine
Reader Brian W has some excellent thoughts and research on Canada's preponderance of lefthanded hitting talent.

During the Canada-Cuba baseball game the question "Anyone know if on the whole, percentage-wise, we've got significantly more left-handed batters than the US?" was asked by G.T. with the hypothesis that due to our hockey background Canadians are more likely to be left handed hitters.

I've wondered the same thing, so I took a quick look into this. Using the invaluable Lahman's database and all players (pitchers and hitters) who have debuted since 1900 I get:


B T Canadians Non-Canadians
S R 6 (4%) 747 (6%)
S L 2 (1%) 151 (1%)
R R 61 (41%) 8474 (63%)
R L 11 (7%) 436 (3%)
L R 44 (30%) 1567 (12%)
L L 25 (17%) 2109 (16%)

Total 149 13492


Percentage throwing right: 75% 81%
Percentage hitting right: 48% 66%
Percentage throwing left: 25% 20%
Percentage hitting left: 47% 28%


So, from these numbers we see that Canadians are about in line with the world with two exceptions: Canadians are less likely to hit and throw right-handed and are more likely to hit left-handed while throwing right-handed. If we assume that the majority of people throw with their dominant hand, we see that right-handed Canadians are quite often hitting left-handed.

The numbers skew even more dramatically if we remove pitchers from the equation (though the sample size decreases as well). I was unable to seperate pitchers from the non-Canadians dataset, so if anybody wants to provide this information it would be greatly appreciated. Instead I've compiled the breakdown for position players on MLB 40-man rosters as of today (bonus points for naming the two S/L players)


B T Cdn Hitters 1900-2004 Current Hitters
S R 3 (5%) 96 (16%)
S L 0 2 (0%)
R R 18 (28%) 328 (54%)
R L 0 4 (1%)
L R 30 (47%) 94 (15%)
L L 13 (20%) 83 (14%)
Total 64 607


In compiling the data I also noticed a large divide in the distribution of the data. Before 1920, there are far more R/R players than after.


B T Pre-1920 Post-1920
S R 1 (6%) 2 (4%)
R R 10 (56%) 8 (17%)
L R 2 (11%) 28 (61%)
L L 5 (28%) 8 (17%)
Total 18 46


It certainly says something when Jason Bay only needed one season to become the most successful Canadian right-handed hitter to debut in the last 90 years. The last right-handed hitting Canadian to appear in more than 100 games was Tom Daly who debuted in 1913 and played 244 career games. Our best switch-hitter ever is: Dave McKay.

From these numbers it is clear that a disproportional amount of Canadian baseball players are opting to bat left-handed. I have made no effort to determine the cause of this and the sample size involved is small enough that random chance cannot be ruled out. At any rate, if there ever is a baseball World Cup, I suspect Canada would face a lot of left-handed pitching.

Thanks Brian! This is terrific work. If you have a Pinch Hit that you'd like to submit, whether article, review, essay or rant, send it over to craig@battersbox.ca and we'll work with you to get it published on Batter's Box.
Pinch Hit : Canada's Left-Handed Hitting | 13 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
_Snappy - Tuesday, August 24 2004 @ 09:51 AM EDT (#39767) #
Great article, there's always such good stuff to read around here...
Just a thought but would lefty-shooting hockey players have an impact on Canadian LHB numbers? Most of the time at least two out of five skaters on the ice would shoot left-handed, maybe more of these guys end up holding a bat left-handed too?
_DGriebeling - Tuesday, August 24 2004 @ 10:18 AM EDT (#39768) #
Great article... and funny enough I was sort of thinking along the same lines earlier this week when I noticed both Corrie Koskie and Justin Morneau batted lefty

Although this was my entire sample size, the thought did strike me about Canadians being more inclined as lefty batters.

Thanks for the read!
_Loveshack - Tuesday, August 24 2004 @ 10:38 AM EDT (#39769) #
Hockey may indeed have something to do with it. Alot of hockey players prefer to have their strong hand on the top of the stick, meaning that many of right-handed people end up shooting "left-handed" and vice versa. Once you're comfortable playing that way it might very easily carry over to other sports like golf, lacrosse and baseball.
_Stan - Tuesday, August 24 2004 @ 10:56 AM EDT (#39770) #
I am left handed but swing right handed. I have always assumed it was because as a kid I was taught to swing by a right handed brother. But why are left handed golfers so scarce?
Craig B - Tuesday, August 24 2004 @ 11:07 AM EDT (#39771) #
why are left handed golfers so scarce

For many, many years lefthanded golf clubs were almost impossible to obtain.
_James W - Tuesday, August 24 2004 @ 12:15 PM EDT (#39772) #
It's almost a famous story by now, about how Mike Weir wrote to Jack Nicklaus, and asked him if he should switch to golfing right-handed. Nicklaus wrote back telling him to stick with his left-handed swing.
_sweat - Tuesday, August 24 2004 @ 01:44 PM EDT (#39773) #
I played gold with my right handed friend, who bats right, throws right, and shoots a puck lefty. He currently can hit from either side of the plate, and can hit a golf ball over 200 yards from either side. He does hit the ball a lot from the right side tho.
_Doom Service - Tuesday, August 24 2004 @ 01:55 PM EDT (#39774) #
The size of the LHB bias would be even larger if you opted to look at a value measure (Win Shares, WARP, whatever) rather than just a binary measure. Of the Canadian born players to make the major leagues, just about every one has hit left. Larry Walker, Terry Puhl, Rob Ducey, Jack Graney, Goody Rosen....

In fact, here's a complete list of Canadian position players (post 1900) who have 500+ games and hit left.

Those named above, plus Nig Clarke, Jeff Heath, Corey Koskie, Sherry Robertson, George (Twinkletoes) Selkirk, Matt Stairs, Pete Ward, Doc Miller (Apologies if I missed anyone)

Here's the same list of right-handers: George Gibson, Frankie O'Rourke.

Dave Mackay was a switch hitter for only part of his career, in some years, he only hit right) .

Fergie Jenkins hit right, as did Reno Bertoia, often listed as a Canadian because he grew up here (Windsor?) but born in Italy.

No idea of the source of the bias, but on a value measure, it's so large you can't ignore it.
_Geoff - Tuesday, August 24 2004 @ 02:02 PM EDT (#39775) #
I believe this theory also applies to Canadian golfers - subjectively speaking I went golfing in a foursome last week: 3 of us hit left, none of us were left-handed, all of us shot left in hockey.
Craig B - Tuesday, August 24 2004 @ 02:08 PM EDT (#39776) #
Here's the same list of right-handers: George Gibson, Frankie O'Rourke

And Frank O'Rourke left Canada as a young child and grew up in New Jersey.
_steve - Tuesday, August 24 2004 @ 03:42 PM EDT (#39777) #
the bullpen just blew up
_G.T. - Wednesday, August 25 2004 @ 01:07 AM EDT (#39778) #
I believe this theory also applies to Canadian golfers

That's where the thought came from, in my original question. It's generally accepted that there are, percentage-wise, many times as many left-handed golfers in Canada as in the US, and the hockey background is offered up as the explanation.

I played a round of golf in the DR with three lefties... they said the guy handling the rentals told them he knew they had to be Canadian!

Thanks, Brian, for looking into this. Great work... fascinating stuff!
_Brian W - Wednesday, August 25 2004 @ 11:41 AM EDT (#39779) #
The following comes from the Masters 2004 website:

"Where Mike Weir comes from, there's nothing weird about playing golf left-handed. It would be weird only if at least one out of every four Canadians didn't play lefty.

Canada is considered to have the highest percentage of left-handed golfers of any country in the world, with between 25 percent and 30 percent of golfers north of the border considered southsiders. Only about 8 percent to 10 percent of Americans play left-handed.

The reason is simple - hockey.

"There's a higher percent of left-handers in Canada on account of hockey," said John Brodrick, the vice president of the National Association of Left-handed Golfers of Canada. "They can shoot with either hand in hockey. So earlier in life they never learned to use just one hand."

With so many Canadian children playing hockey, many develop a dominant use of the left hand to play certain positions. A left-winger, for instance, will use a hockey stick curved to enhance a left-handed shot.

Curiously, nearly 70 percent of Canadian hockey players shoot left-handed - making right-handed shooters as precious in the NHL as left-handed pitchers in Major League Baseball.

During the era after Wayne Gretzky became the central figure in Canadian hockey, Titan manufactured and marketed a left-handed stick signed by the Edmonton Oilers center. It was the hottest-selling stick in Canada, and the theory goes that it helped spawn an abundant generation of faux lefties."
Pinch Hit : Canada's Left-Handed Hitting | 13 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.