Once again during my regular regal ruminations I was perusing the book, Dictionary of Word Origins by Jordan Almond when I came across an entry for Southpaw:
“All major league baseball diamonds are laid out so that the batter will face east, thus putting the afternoon sun behind his back and making it easier for him to see the ball. Therefore, when the pitcher faces the batter he’s facing west and his left arm is to the south. So if he pitches left-handed, he’s pitching with his ‘south paw.'”
It makes sense that they would construct ball parks this way – aligned with the compass, but I had never thought about it before. I had never really considered why left-handed pitchers are called south paws. I had just heard it all my life and accepted it without thought.
As my son-in-law has informed me a couple times ( I had forgotten the answer from the first time I asked him) that the stadium space in center field without seats, and usually green, is to help the batters see the ball also.
Don’t you feel so much smarter now…
