The confounding and bizarre lack of left-handed catchers thread (pitchers, pitcher, games)

[James Bond 007]

I had often wondered about this - why are there no lefty catchers (at least in the major leagues)? I can understand 2nd base, SS and 3rd base being the exclusive domains of righties ... but why catchers? So I finally got around to researching it, and the phenomenon is even more pronounced than I had imagined:

Encyclopedia of Baseball Catchers - Left-Handed Throwing Catchers
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Since 1905 there have been precisely THREE major league left-handed catchers, who have caught a whopping 7 games total! The last one was Benny Distefano in 1989.

A little more research and some writers, after thinking about it and analyzing it, are as confounded over the issue as me:

Top 10 Left-Handed Catchers for 2006
The title is, of course, a joke. A bit of analysis:

So, yeah, many folks have weighed in on this subject, including the estimable Bill James (we’ll get to him later), but as far as I can tell, nobody has tried to determine if any of these explanations are correct. Actually, there is a good reason nobody has tried: nobody cares all that much. Still, I’m going to waste time on baseball one way or another, so I might as well waste it seeing if I can shed some light on this lefty catcher conundrum. Some insights can be gleaned by looking at catcher caught stealing data, but there’ll be more than just number crunching in this study. Before we start investigating, though,
let’s have a look at the last real left-handed catcher.

Here's an interesting article from 2009 which actually interviews Distefano:

Left-Handed and Left Out

The letters keep coming. Every few weeks, Benny Distefano will open his mail and find a letter from a Little Leaguer, or a parent of one, asking for advice. He is the only person they know who understands.

Twenty years ago this Tuesday, Distefano, then a hanging-on major leaguer, served as a left-handed catcher in a major league baseball game. No one has done so since. Like Ladies Night and pitchers named Wilbur, left-handed catchers are effectively extinct — for reasons on which there is bizarrely little consensus.

Thoughts, anyone? Anyone here a lefty who tried to be a catcher in, say, little league? Or know someone who did?

[CHIP72]

The simple answer is that catchers normally need good throwing arms and knowledge of the game. If a left-handed catcher has both of those attributes, he gets turned into a pitcher. If a left-handed catcher has a good arm and can run, he turns into a right fielder. (Most catchers can't run though.) The conversion usually occurs way before a guy gets to the majors.

[jmgg]

Thread from last year discussing this.


Why No Left-Handed Catchers?


As I stated on this thread, I think we'll see it in our lifetime as much of the right handed advantage has been taken away with today's game.

[James Bond 007]

^
Thanks, didn't see that.

[P47P47]

My father was the only manager in his Little League who kept a left-hander's catcher's mitt in his equipment bag. Had a few left-handed catchers over the years.

For a couple of years, he had a left-handed third baseman.