Why Do Left-Handers Excel at Certain Elite Sports But Not Others? (theguardian.com)

Nicola Davis, writing for The Guardian: From cricketer Wasim Akram to baseball pitcher Clayton Kershaw and table tennis star Ding Ning, the world of sport has no shortage of left-handed players. But now researchers say they've worked out why lefties are overrepresented in some elite sports but not others. The study, published in the journal Biology Letters, suggests that being left-handed is a particular advantage in interactive sports where time pressures are particularly severe, such as table tennis and cricket -- possibly because their moves are less familiar to their mostly right-handed opponents, who do not have time to adjust. "The data suggests that the heavier the time constraints are operating in a sport, the larger the proportion of left-handers," said the study's author, Dr Florian Loffing of the University of Oldenburg in Germany. "We are less used to playing lefties, and [so] might end up in not developing the optimal strategies to compete with them." While it is thought that about 10-13 percent of the population is left-handed, it has long been noted that in certain interactive sports there is often a surprisingly high proportion of left-handers playing at elite levels.

Comments

Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[damn_registrars]

This is why left-handed pitchers are so valuable. Baseball players grow up mostly batting against right-handed pitchers, and the movement of a pitch from a left-handed pitchers is almost the mirror image of what they are used to.

Re:Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[Falconhell]

The same with left arm fast bowlers, like Wasim Akram in cricket. That man could bowl!.

Re:Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[Anonymous Coward]

The same with left handed fencers. The angles of attack and distance is different. Those right handed fencers that do not practice against left handed fencers are often caught unaware.

Re:Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[sjames]

There's also something about the reletive position of the batter. That's why switch hitters generally bat left when a lefty is on the mound.

Re:Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[youngone]

I had the great pleasure of watching Wasim Akram bowl from the fine leg/ Mid on boundary at Eden Park in New Zealand one sunny afternoon when he was at his best.
Being a lefty probably helped, but also being able to bowl a yorker that swung either way at 160 km per hour was a factor too I think.
He seemed to be a good sport too, signing autographs for kids over the fence between his overs.

Re:Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[vux984]

I disagree. I mean the theory is sound, but it somewhat falls apart because even though only 10% of people are left handed, because they do so well and are so desirable in these positions / sports they are heavily over represented in them, and the overrepresentation is going to dilute the effectiveness.

I mean around 30%+ of baseball pitchers are left handed.
Half of the top fencers in the world are left handed.

The 'unfamiliarity' advantage of being left handed might be high when its a 90/10 split... but when every other match up is vs a lefty its not a 'mirror image of what you are used to' it becomes 'what you are used to'.

Re:Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[Snap E Tom]

I knew a woman who gave birth to a kid with an extra digit on his left hand. I urged her not to get it amputated.

"Put a baseball in his left hand now! With that extra finger and being left handed, no telling what he'll be able to do as a pitcher! He'll make you millions, and he'll be famous!"

She didn't listen to me.

Re:Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[bloodhawk]

The reality is whiel they may be disproportionate at the top they are NOT that way where most people learn, practise or play the majority of their matches. Even in Fencing where they are around half at the top, you still will not practise with or fight nearly half your matches with lefties. They are an oddity and uncomfortable to compete against even in sports where they are in significant numbers at the top.

Re:Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[vux984]

Really? I fenced for a few years, and even at the very beginner amateur hobby level I was at -- we had a disproportionate representation of lefties. Probably 20%+ at least.

And likewise, even the junior baseball league I was in when I was around 12 already had coaches eager for left hand pitchers. (I only played for one year, and although I was a lefty, I was lousy at baseball. I'd played soccer for years prior and wanted a change... maybe if I'd played baseball all the way up it would have been different but... who knows.)

I stopped playing baseball before high school, but I've got to beleive with the way varsity and college sports gets that they'd be scouring the student rolls for lefties to take those positions.

" They are an oddity and uncomfortable to compete against even in sports where they are in significant numbers at the top."

Even if that were true, as you get closer to the top... they are no longer an oddity, and I can't see why you wouldn't get comfortable with it.

Its not really an "oddity" when every 3rd starting pitcher is left handed. After a few years in the major leagues... it shouldn't be the least bit 'odd and uncomfortable' any more. And like I said I wouldn't be surprised if that's already trending in bush leagues too, given I saw coaches seeking left handed pitchers in middle school...

Re:Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[bloodhawk]

you don't get comfortable with it until you have practised a lot. When you hit the top you still have probably played less than 20% of your real match time against lefthanders, this is extremely significant in reaction, muscle memory and practised moves. while eventually you will become comfortable it takes time and during that time the lefties have a significant advantage against you, incidentally lefties have exactly the same issue against other lefties.

Re:Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[Anonymous Coward]

As a kid I had a poster of him from a Pakistan vs England match in England. I think the stats for the bowling spell of his were 5 wickets for 8 runs off of 22 balls. Absolute legend. If you escaped him you then had to face Waqar Younis from the other end.

Re:Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[uvajed_ekil]

This is why left-handed pitchers are so valuable. Baseball players grow up mostly batting against right-handed pitchers, and the movement of a pitch from a left-handed pitchers is almost the mirror image of what they are used to.

Yes, very true - the phenomenon of left-handed pitchers being over represented in baseball is no mystery, and is in fact obvious to baseball fans. But the higher the level of play, the less effective lefties are against right-handed hitters - they are there to get left-handed hitters out, who are also more common there than at the youth level. Right-handed batters crush lefties once they see them enough.

The summary mentions Kershaw, who is arguably the best lefty in the game. However, it is arguable that righties Max Sherzer and Corey Kluber are at least equally dominant, if not even better. Aside from the lack of left-handed pitchers for young batters to face, there is another reason for there to be a premium on lefties, and that is something inherent in the game and how the human body works. Few pitchers can throw a curveball or slider as hard and that breaks as sharply, while disguising the delivery, as well as guys like Kluber and Kershaw, and no one can throw a pitch as well that breaks nearly as well the opposite way.

Lots of players learn to hit form both sides of the plate because it is advantageous to have a pitcher's pitches breaking toward you rather than away. An abundance of left-handed and switch-hitting players (any hitter can learn to hit form either side, if they start young enough, and being a step closer to 1B and batting mainly against righties are incentives to hit lefty) means left-handed pitchers are highly desirable. And while a young righty has to throw hard and show some aptitude from the start to become a pitcher, nearly every lefty at least gets a chance to try pitching. So while there are obviously fewer lefties getting into the game, the game selects for them, and not just because they are novel weapons against the majority (at the youth level) right-handed hitters.

Side not about misconceptions: I find it hilarious when TV announcers say asinine things about lefties, such as that they "throw across their bodies." Their motions from the stretch may be tailored to deceive runners on 1B, something not true of righties (who are more likely to focus on being quick, the difference being owed to the asymmetry inherent in baseball), but there is no other reason, biological or tactical, for their mechanics to be any different than righties, on average. I've heard this nonsense a thousand times and always without explanation, but if you take a mirror image of lefty's motion, he looks just like a righty. Switch-hitters will tell you this. I think this dumb misconception comes from watching too much baseball on TV, where the camera used for most pitches is always off to the left field side of center, thus showing a lefty's back and a righty's front side.

Re:Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[uvajed_ekil]

The same with left arm fast bowlers, like Wasim Akram in cricket. That man could bowl!.

I don't get it - how do the pins and lanes react differently to left-handed bowlers? As a former scratch 10-pin bowler myself, I know the lack of lefties means the oil patterns on the left side of the lanes change less throughout a session, but everything else should be symmetrical.

Re:Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[Anonymous Coward]

A bowler in cricket, not bowling.

Re:Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[edwdig]

Being opposite handed is an advantage for the batter, not the pitcher. There's two big reason for that:

1) The batter can see the ball easier while it's still in the pitcher's hand. You're looking across the plate toward the pitcher. In a same handed matchup, the pitcher's release point can be behind your back. You loose sight of the ball during the windup and can't track it as quickly. Being opposite handed buys you a little bit more reaction time.

2) In a same handed matchup, most pitches will have horizontal movement away from the batter. This leads to a lot of contact toward the end of the bat instead of the middle, which results in weaker hits. In an opposite handed matchup, the ball will be coming in toward the batter. This makes it a lot easier to make contact with the sweet spot of the bat.

Left handed hitters have a huge advantage. It's also relatively easy for a right to learn to bat lefty - far easier than learning to throw with the opposite hand. You want the left handed pitchers to counter the left handed hitter advantage.

I find it hilarious when TV announcers say asinine things about lefties, such as that they "throw across their bodies."

A pitcher steps forward as he throws. If you plant your foot off center, your upper body won't rotate smoothly and it makes your throw less accurate. That's called throwing across your body. Both righties and lefties can do it. When pitching it's a bad thing.

Pickoff throws are a very different story though. When throwing a pickoff to first, a left would normally step straight forward, telegraphing his move to the runner. If he lands his foot off center toward the home plate side, it takes longer for the runner to figure out if the throw is going to first or to home. You don't need nearly as much accuracy on a pickoff throw as you do on a pitch, so throwing across your body can be a good tradeoff. Giving up a little accuracy to make your move harder to read is well worth it.

A right handed pitcher is facing third, so he has to spin around to throw to first. There's no room for deception there, so there wouldn't be any benefit to throwing across his body.

Here's a slow motion video of Andy Pettite throwing a pickoff to first. Look how far off to the right his foot lands, and the awkward arm motion it results in. It's incredibly deceptive and one of the best pickoff moves of all time.

Re:Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[spisska]

> That's why switch hitters generally bat left when a lefty is on the mound.

It's the other way round. A right-handed pitcher's curve/breaking ball will break away from a right handed batter, and towards a left handed batter. And vice-versa.

It's much easier to see and hit a ball curving towards you than away from you. A switch hitter will always line up on the opposite side of a pitcher's hand -- i.e. the batter will bat lefty against a right-hander, and righty against a left-hander.

Also worth noting: batting left-handed puts you a step closer to first base than batting right handed. Also: it's much easier to bunt opposite side than same side. If you bat lefty, opposite side is down the third base line -- meaning it's much easier to bunt for a hit as a lefty than as a righty.

Dads take note: teach your kids to bat lefty. They'll have to go a long way in the sport before they face a left-handed curve-ball. In the meantime, there's a non-negligible number of times they'll be safe on an infield hit where they wouldn't be safe batting right-handed.

Re:Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[Solandri]

In baseball, the reason is a bit simpler if you actually play the game. A pitcher's arm doesn't make a perfectly vertical arc. It's tilted a bit (for most pitchers), swinging out to the side at the top compared to the release point. This results in a fastball (underspin) or curve (topspin) not spinning perfectly vertical. For a right-handed pitcher, their fastball will tend to rise (compared to just gravity) and drift slightly to the left (batter's point of view). Their curve will tend to fall and drift slightly to the right.

For the batter, they're not looking straight at the oncoming pitch. Their head is offset a bit from the center of the plate and where the bat will contact the ball. For the right-handed batter, this means a ball which is moving perfectly straight towards the middle of the strike zone will appear to drift slightly to the right (batter's point of view) due to perspective as it moves from the pitcher to the plate.

For the right-handed batter facing a right-handed pitcher:

• The fastball (easiest pitch to hit) drifts slightly to the left. This tends to cancel out the apparent drift to the right due to perspective, making it easier for the batter to lock onto the pitch (it appears to have less relative motion in the horizontal axis).
• The curveball drifts slightly to the right, accentuating its apparent drift due to perspective (to the right for a perfectly straight pitch). You would think more motion would make it harder to hit, but a curveball is slower. The drop in height plus the greater apparent motion to the right makes it appear to move more, making it easier for the batter to pick up that this is a curve and not a fastball. That gives him a little more time to adjust his swing's timing and location appropriately. i.e. A right-hand pitcher's fastball and curve look a lot more different to a right-handed batter.

For the right-handed batter facing a left-handed pitcher:

• The fastball drifts slightly to the right, adding to the rightward drift due to perspective. The ball moves more horizontally, making it harder for the batter to determine exactly where in the horizontal axis he needs to aim to contact it.
• The curveball drifts slightly to the left, partly canceling out the apparent horizontal motion due to perspective. It looks like a fastball for slightly longer, making it harder to adjust the swing's timing and location when he eventually figures out it's a curve. i.e. A left-handed pitcher's fastball and curve look similar to a right-handed batter for longer.

Left-handed batters don't have as much problem facing right-handed pitchers because they've been facing more of them all their lives. Yes left-handed pitchers are very common at the pro level. But when playing as kids, in schools, and in the early minor leagues, right-handed pitchers are much more common. I suspect that's the same reason left-handed fencers are more successful. They may be split 50/50 at the pro level. But if you tallied up the lifetime matches including when they were learning, they've mostly been facing right-handers.

Re: Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[UnknowingFool]

The issue is at the "elite" level. Since left handers are rare in society in general, the chance of facing one at lower levels of competition is also rare. As such, lefties will get more playing time, more coaching, etc as they go up the ranks as being a leftie gives them a slight advantage. By the time they get to elite levels, the lefties make up more than a good percentage. But those who make it to the elite levels still have to be good athletes and skilled.

Re:Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[Rolgar]

Completely wrong.

First, you have to understand what are called the platoon splits. In general, more than 90% of batters are better against pitchers that pitch from the opposite side. So right handed batters hit better against lefty pitchers, and lefties bat better against right handed pitchers.

I remember playing baseball as a kid, and one game in particular, we we hitting well against a team from a smaller town 5 miles away, and somehow, there was a large number of left handed kids from the town giving us a huge advantage because they had no choice but to give us the advantage by pitching left handed pitchers against right handed batters. It was years later before I found out that it's a natural advantage to hit opposite because the hitter can see the ball approach the plate better.

Since this is the case, imagine if all pitchers were only right handed, there would be an extreme incentive to recruit as many left handed batters as possible, to the near extreme of having all left handed batters (difficult since 2B, SS and 3B are three positions that are exclusively maned by right handed throwers (only a few hundred games on record of lefties playing any of these positions in over a hundred years), although there are players that bat opposite from where they throw, for instance Mike Moustakas of the Royals is one I'm aware of). It would probably be a situation where 50-80% of players would bat left handed. In such a league, it would become a significant advantage to develop left handed pitching to overcome left handed hitting, which is why there is such an emphasis on left handed pitchers, to maintain balance and prevent other teams from being able to go for a platoon advantage.

It's probably difficult for left handed pitchers to develop at the lowest levels because most teams probably have a 90-100% right handed lineup meaning a pitcher will have to be truly special very early to get through most lineups. Then at high school, college, minor leagues when other teams are going to have a higher concentration in lefty hitters, teams need to develop left handed pitchers that have probably been weeded out because of ineffectiveness at lower levels.

Because of the smaller pool of left handed pitchers to draw from is smaller, the pitching speeds and talent for left handed pitchers is much harder to come by, and this results in it being valued disproportionately.

Re:Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[Half-pint HAL]

When I fenced, there were no lefties in my club. I went to a competition. I met a leftie. I was utterly annihilated.

Re: Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[vux984]

The counter-issue is that since lefties excel in these sorts of competitions they are attracted to them, so they are over represented even at lower levels of competition.

Perhaps not quite as over-represented as at the highest levels, but still. That's been my experience at least, as a left hander.

I was encouraged to try fencing, I was encouraged to try baseball, specifically because i was left handed, specifically because I was told it would give me an edge.

Re:Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[Mal-2]

One factor in baseball is that four of the eight positions that are not pitcher are closed to left-handed throwers: catcher, second base, shortstop, and third base. Talented left-handed throwers are therefore either used in the outfield, or become pitchers, or in a few edge cases these players learn to throw right-handed -- Pablo Sandoval immediately comes to mind. First basemen don't need the emphasis on throwing skills. Aside from pitchers, the best opportunities are available to players who bat left-handed (or better yet, switch-hit), but still throw right-handed. Having a batting line-up that alternates L-R prevents the opposing manager from bringing in a relief pitcher that will be effective (due to same-handedness as the hitter) across multiple batters, leading to the rise of the LOOGY -- Lefty One Out GuY.

Other factors leading to left-handed hitters having an advantage are (1) they're a step closer to first base, so they will beat out a slightly higher proportion of ground balls and put more time pressure on the defense which in turn leads to a higher error rate, and (2) some ballparks (like Yankee Stadium) are specifically built to favor left-handed power hitters. This is somewhat offset by defensive infield shifts being easier to implement against left-handed pull hitters, but this is a relatively recent development and although it has existed since the 1940s at least, it was not in common use until the last decade. Scouts and players and managers alike are still adjusting to the new defensive paradigm.

Re:Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[Reziac]

In baseball, the criterion is the ball's angle of travel across the plate. Ideally you want it so the batter can't get a clean look at the ball, and so his bat can't make square contact.

https://sports.stackexchange.c...

Re: Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[Brockmire]

When I was about 13, I faced my first left handed pitcher and I'm right handed. I struck out a few times. When he'd pitch, my brain was wrapped up in watching his bizarre wind up and the opposite spin of the ball and didn't really follow the trajectory of the ball like I was used to. I don't recall facing any other lefty pitcher in my town or others besides that one asshole. I'm sure I would have gotten used to it with more at bats. I fucking hated that guy.

Re: Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[Brockmire]

Oh, shots fired against left handed people not being normal. What are you, a nun from the 70's?

Re: Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[elpgrrrl]

Nuns never hit my hands with a ruler or other object during high school the 70s (the either had given up or the order was more progressive). Neither did my grade school public school teachers harm me in the 60s. But, my dad said his left-handed brother (b. 1927) had his left arm tied behind him to prevent him from writing with his sinister hand. That didn't work and only made him more stubborn. Tending to play ambidextrously (left-handed mits were hard to find so I threw right-handed), I batted left. Ironically, left-handed pitchers always threw me off when playing city league girls fast-pitch softball. But, had no problem hitting of right-handed pitchers.

Re: Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[Hognoxious]

Looks like I hit a nerve there, caggy.

Re:Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[sh00z]

There's also something about the reletive position of the batter. That's why switch hitters generally bat left when a lefty is on the mound.

Not just the relative position--the absolute position gives an advantage too. A left-handed batter starts out one step closer to first base. Grounders turn into actual races.

Re:Any baseball player or fan could tell you that

[Falconhell]

Sorry, this is cricket,real sport, not some fatass wobbling across a wooden floor.

Left handed people need tax cuts

[MillionthMonkey]

...and everyone else should pay for them.

That way, www.leftyslefthanded.com will be able to hire new workers and create jobs that are filled both by left-handed and right-handed people!

Re:Left handed people need tax cuts

[uvajed_ekil]

...and everyone else should pay for them. That way, www.leftyslefthanded.com will be able to hire new workers and create jobs that are filled both by left-handed and right-handed people!

No, they just need to use the correct hand. It's called the right hand for a reason. We'll never stand for your pinko commie redistribution of RIGHTfully attained right-handed wealth. Does trickle-down handedness work any better than trickle-down economics?

more of the obvious

[Anonymous Coward]

Just worked it out? WTF? especially in cricket this has been a known thing for decades, cricket teams intentionally strategically put left handers in the batting/bowling lineup as in games where timing is so essential anything even slightly unfamiliar can put the opposing team off their game. A left handed batsman with a right hander in cricket is the worst possible scenario for the fielding team who have to make constant adjustments to fielding and bowling depending on who is at the strikers end

Chess

[MillionthMonkey]

Has anyone done a study on how well left handed people play chess?

Let's make a new rule. If you're left handed, your starting position has the king and queen on swapped squares. Then we can see if lefties have a natural advantage there too.

Re:Chess

[religionofpeas]

Let's make a new rule. If you're left handed, your starting position has the king and queen on swapped squares

Even better: let's swap all their pieces left to right !

Re:Chess

[MillionthMonkey]

Oh come on! That would take forever!

Re:Chess

[rtb61]

I have a trouble with calling any sport douche bags elite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.... Mindless drones mentally equipped to do the same boring thing over and over and over again and they only ever look publicly good when managed by a Public Relations team, to prevent their shallow often quite primitive behaviour from leaking out and destroying their marketing worth. There is no such thing as an elite athlete beyond government subsidised sports advertising and the foolishness of people willing to accept it. Not that sport is a bad thing, I just would much prefer if governments would sponsor participatory sports with tax payer dollars, rather than subsidising spectator sports in order to subsidise sports advertising in order for marketers to scam votes out of a gullible public.

Re:Chess

[Godwin O'Hitler]

And don't forget to mirror all their black and white squares.

Re:Chess

[TheCastro1689]

You can already do this by switching sides, the queen isn't always on the same side of the board since the queen is on her matching color.

Re:Chess

[Hognoxious]

Thanks for that, captain Obvious!

[aside] Bet he's a fucking caggy.

Re: Chess

[Brockmire]

Sounds like you suck at sports or have never played them. And since we know you suck at science, I don't know what you got going for yourself.

Fencing comes to mind

[nospam007]

Inigo Montoya: You are wonderful.

Man in Black: Thank you; I've worked hard to become so.

Inigo Montoya: I admit it, you are better than I am.

Man in Black: Then why are you smiling?

Inigo Montoya: Because I know something you don't know.

Man in Black: And what is that?

Inigo Montoya: I am not left-handed.

[switches sword to his other hand, and begins to fight far more successfully]

Man in Black: You are amazing.

Inigo Montoya: I ought to be, after 20 years.

Man in Black: Oh, there's something I ought to tell you.

Inigo Montoya: Tell me.

Man in Black: I'm not left-handed either.

[switches his own sword to his other hand, suddenly driving Inigo back]

Re:Fencing comes to mind

[Anonymous Coward]

As a long time practitioner of modern fencing, I can confirm that the findings of this article were quite obvious. I hope the study has enough scientific rigour to bring something on top of that.

Re:Fencing comes to mind

[sconeu]

When I had been fencing for about a year, I broke my right arm. I wound up learning how to fence left handed... not very well, but yes, it did give an advantage.

However, since I had learned right handed, I almost had no advantage because I wasn't USED to defending left handed.

Re:Fencing comes to mind

[rmdingler]

I had been mousing, wiping, writing, and rubbing one out right-handed for years, when a well-intentioned move of my sister's belongings to a storage complex resulted in a rather horrific crushing of my preferred appendage. Carrying the heaviest piece of furniture she owned, my lead heel caught the slight elevation of the rainstop at the storage compartment's door, and rather than drop the overbuilt bookcase, I rather foolishly attempted to catch it.

My best two mates at the time were rather comforting in their collective, stated assessment that "You'll never use that hand again!"

I know you'll be relieved to discover my right hand was salvageable, but to this day, I mouse and wipe with the devil's hand, and I'm no worse for it.

Perhaps hand preference is merely that, and there's no deeper meaning.

Re:Fencing comes to mind

[twosat]

They put a lot of time and effort into that sword fight: How The Princess Bride Built Film’s Most Beloved Sword Fight https://www.vanityfair.com/hol...

Re:Fencing comes to mind

[Half-pint HAL]

I'm a rightie, but my left's my mouse hand -- the bloody numerical keypad on most keyboards makes rightie-mousing a practical impossibility.

Re:Fencing comes to mind

[Mal-2]

I chose to solve this problem another way: by moving the numeric keypad and cursor keys to the left side of the keyboard.

Re:Fencing comes to mind

[Half-pint HAL]

Leftie keyboards are harder to come by, and I used to work in a hot-desk office. Switching the mouse buttons and moving the mouse has been trivially easy in most places I've worked, so I've stuck with that.

Evil lefties

[Major_Disorder]

It is because they are all evil. So, because they are evil, they will cheat to win.
Obviously some sports are harder to cheat at than others, so those sports do not show a left handed bias.

Re:Evil lefties

[skoskav]

Hey, that's a half-truth!

Re:Evil lefties

[Spy Handler]

"Left handed" compliment means you weren't being sincere. Left-handedness has a long cultural history of being not proper.

Re:Evil lefties

[Major_Disorder]

I was wondering how long it would be until someone would bring politics into a discussion about right vs left handed. 12 minutes. Your amazing restraint is noted, jackoff-san.

Written just like a lefty. Get him boys.

Re:Evil lefties

[vm146j2]

Hm. I think the word you are looking for is sinister

Re:Evil lefties

[angel'o'sphere]

In Christianity ...

Re:Evil lefties

[uvajed_ekil]

I was wondering how long it would be until someone would bring politics into a discussion about right vs left handed. 12 minutes. Your amazing restraint is noted, jackoff-san.

Written just like a lefty. Get him boys.

If it had been written like a lefty in 1950 it would have been all smeared, because they can't resist dragging their less-evolved knuckles across fresh ink. Their inferiority is no less trivial to identify today though, even with hand writing having long since gone extinct. Wrong-handed people will soon go the way of Neanderthals and ink pens.

Got him for ya!

Re:Evil lefties

[Anonymous Coward]

It is because they are all evil.

We prefer to use sinister.

Re:Evil lefties

[mrdogi]

Well, not so evil that we'd balance against a duck, anyway..

Excel ?

[Anonymous Coward]

There is a left-hand version of Excel ?
That's probably the one they installed on my computer. It's so cumbersome !

lefties vs lefties

[BlueStraggler]

It's pretty obvious what the left-handed advantage is when you have sports where lefties can compete directly against other lefties. In my own sport of fencing, lefties enjoy disproportionate success (close to 50% of world champions are left handed), and they are widely regarded as difficult opponents. But pit two lefties against each other and you will often get a shitshow of awkward, hesitant, and poorly-executed techniques, despite the fact that the tactical situation is identical to right-vs-right, the most common and well-understood scenario in the sport.

The reason is easy to understand - everyone, regardless of handedness, gets 85% of their practice against right-handers. Lefties are, quite simply, weird, even to other lefties. We don't get enough practice with them, we don't get the time to develop highly-trained "favourite moves" with them, and we don't ever enjoy the comfort and ease of familiarity. Our cognitive load is increased, and our reaction time is slower.

Unless you're lucky enough to have a left-handed coach, or a disproportionate number of lefties in your club to practice with. Or you simply stick with the sport long enough that the 15% of lefties you meet eventually adds up to a lot of experience.

Re:lefties vs lefties

[angel'o'sphere]

I fence with both hands (nearly) equally good, and the opponents favourite is no matter for me.
However, I use two handed swords ... Katana or European Longsword.
If that did not make sense to you: plenty of techniques are one handed, or are what is called half swording.

Elite Sports

[pots]

Came here to find out which sports are elite, and discovered nothing, so I skimmed the article. Apparently it's tennis and cricket. You might have been thinking polo or something, but bear in mind that the article is only talking about elite sports in which left-handed players have an advantage.

Re:Elite Sports

[Attila Dimedici]

If you had read the summary you would have known that the article was only talking about elite sports where left handers appear to have some sort of advantage (because they are over represented in the top levels of the sport). Hence the summary says, "why lefties are overrepresented in some elite sports but not others." Further a contextual examination would indicate that when the article speaks of "elite sports" it is referring to the top levels of a sport (professional, Olympics, World or National Championship competition).

Laterality

[g01d4]

Surprised the study didn't extend to include left/right footedness in football (aka soccer) and maybe kick boxing. Laterality isn't limited to hands.

Re:Laterality

[tamarik]

I am right handed. Started cycling when I was 10 or so. Our coach, Story Redford, I think, taught us to jump off our left foot. That half-stroke advantage could be the difference in a breakaway. We were also capable of responding to a jump with either foot. Also became a better left-wing in soccer then right cause I could control that foot better (and less competition for the position). In my 50's now and I notice I can start nuts and screws or wrench with either hand equally well. Start practicing young, I guess.

Amphibious

[Major Blud]

Yogi Berra described this perfectly.

"He hits from both sides of the plate. He's amphibious."

https://www.brainyquote.com/qu...

Left/Right

[tquasar]

Both of my siblings are left handed and one of my sons. I use my right now but when I was around 12 years old I trained myself to write left handed. When I played baseball or softball I was a switch hitter then came to favor batting lefty. I still do some things left handed.

Clock position

[Anonymous Coward]

Over the board it used to be (before wired digital clocks) that the black player decides which side of the board the clock goes.

It gave left-handed players the advantage that against right-handed players the clock was always on their preferred side of the board regardless of the color they were playing.

Re:Clock position

[93 Escort Wagon]

Over the board it used to be (before wired digital clocks) that the black player decides which side of the board the clock goes.

Was that part of some weird affirmative action program?

But what about left handed politicians?

[burhop]

Is being a US president an "elite sport"?

Gerald Ford.
Ronald Reagan.
George H.W. Bush.
Bill Clinton.
Barack Obama

All lefties.

Donald Trump is right handed. If you see him using his left hand, it is just Alec Baldwin again.

Re: But what about left handed politicians?

[burhop]

Out of how many presidents? Seems to be in line with the population percentage mentioned in the article.

That is 5 of the last 8. There are more but it gets weird if you go too far back. Being left-handed was considered bad or evil so people were often forced to switch. My wife owned and taught in a preschool and even today has had an occasional parent ask her not let their child write with their left hand (she nicely tells them 'no').

I play competetive baseball

[Potor]

The answer is simple. Somebody is throwing a very fast thing at you. It looks very different when this comes from a lefty, since most of the time it comes from a righty. This is true for the batter, the catcher (I do both), and the umpire. Sure, you can say that it because the batter (etc.) has no time to react. But this is simply to repeat what I said above, but in a temporal fashion.

This is on slashdot why?

Re:I play competetive baseball

[uvajed_ekil]

The answer is simple. Somebody is throwing a very fast thing at you. It looks very different when this comes from a lefty, since most of the time it comes from a righty. This is true for the batter, the catcher (I do both), and the umpire. Sure, you can say that it because the batter (etc.) has no time to react. But this is simply to repeat what I said above, but in a temporal fashion.

This is on slashdot why?

You may play competitive baseball, but your answer is only valid in little league (I'll be kind and admit that this might continue through high school), where most players both throw and hit righty. The statistics don't lie when they say that right-handed batters hit lefties better than they do righties, and vice versa. At professional levels, and at Division I colleges, lots of players hit from the left side, so lefties are there to get them out especially, not be some sort of novelty that's effective against righties.

Almost any experienced batter would rather hit against someone throwing from the opposite side so breaking balls break towards them rather than away. That's why so many managers go "by the book" with their pitching changes late in games - to get a same-side hurler on the mound to get one or two batters out, or to force a switch hitter to one side or the other. I was an average high school and travel hitter, but I raked against lefties. It was nice having pitches come towards me rather than run away. This phenomenon is why baseball over selects for lefty pitchers, and why otherwise right-handed hitters learn to switch hit. If arms and wrists worked differently and it were easy to throw screw balls and pitches that break the opposite of sliders and curveballs, we'd see fewer lefty pitchers at high levels, and fewer switch and left-side hitters. As it is, pitchers have a distinct advantage in same-side matchups, batters in opposite-side matchups.

Hockey

[Ogive17]

Ice hockey is a bit weird as there are a significant number of "lefties" at the top levels. Youth coaches who know their stuff want the dominant hand on top of the stick which means the player has a left hand shot. It's so lopsided in the NHL that right hand shot defensemen are very in demand.

Re:Hockey

[uvajed_ekil]

Ice hockey is a bit weird as there are a significant number of "lefties" at the top levels. Youth coaches who know their stuff want the dominant hand on top of the stick which means the player has a left hand shot. It's so lopsided in the NHL that right hand shot defensemen are very in demand.

I'm very familiar with the mechanics of baseball, how pitching/hitting matchups work, and how youth systems develop players (or fail to do so), but why does it work this way in hockey? For a kid that plays baseball or golf or whatever, it seems natural initially to put the dominant hand lower on a hockey stick. Is it actually better to have the dominant hand on top? I never played a lot of hockey but I know I was much more comfortable with my right hand closer to the business end of the stick, as with a bat or club. I understand that the flow of play on the ice should be symmetrical, thus the need for both lefty and righty shots, just not why players learn one way or the other.

Re:Hockey

[uvajed_ekil]

Ice hockey is a bit weird as there are a significant number of "lefties" at the top levels. Youth coaches who know their stuff want the dominant hand on top of the stick which means the player has a left hand shot. It's so lopsided in the NHL that right hand shot defensemen are very in demand.

I'm very familiar with the mechanics of baseball, how pitching/hitting matchups work, and how youth systems develop players (or fail to do so), but why does it work this way in hockey? For a kid that plays baseball or golf or whatever, it seems natural initially to put the dominant hand lower on a hockey stick. Is it actually better to have the dominant hand on top? I never played a lot of hockey but I know I was much more comfortable with my right hand closer to the business end of the stick, as with a bat or club. I understand that the flow of play on the ice should be symmetrical, thus the need for both lefty and righty shots, just not why players learn one way or the other.

Wait, I've got it - it's less about the shot and more about one-handed stick work and the transition into the shot, isn't it? Therein lies the difference between hockey and baseball, cricket, or golf - the need to use the whacker-thing in different ways, sometimes with one hand and sometimes with both. Maybe?

Re: Hockey

[Ogive17]

I started playing when I was 30 so my dominate hand is in the bottom because that is what felt natural. If you think about it from a scientific standpoint, the hand on the bottom is simply the fulcrum. The hand on top is the one that should be responsible for the movements of the stick.

Re:Hockey

[tehcyder]

Ice hockey is a bit weird

You could just stop there you know.

Bowling

[p51d007]

In the 80's, I was an avid bowler. Two different leagues. Left handers have an edge by the time the end of the night. Most bowlers are right handed. By the end of the night, they have dragged the oil down to the pin deck, which means the ball won't have as much snap to the 1/3 pocket. Whereas, me being the only lefty, it's still pretty dry into the 1/2 pocket.

Re:Bowling

[Mal-2]

I watched a professional match where four of the final five (the "ladder") bowlers were left-handed. It was fun to see them suddenly scrambling to deal with a breakdown in the oil pattern that right-handed bowlers face in every single competition, while the right-hander was the one who could settle into a groove. (He didn't last long despite this.)

Re:go fuck yourself

[uvajed_ekil]

The superior species has no need for your stupid charity.

Right-handers are clearly an inferior species, unable to adapt to reality.

We can flush you into oblivion with either hand

Bah, right is RIGHT. There's a reason we run the world and you whine. You will be assimilated. Nay, you have been assimilated, and you just admitted that you've adjusted to our society's ways.

You are not welcome on my new breeding, er, dating site, Righties Only. We will correct these abhorrent genetic anomalies and only the fittest will survive.

Or non leftie-relevant sports

[DrYak]

Unless you're lucky enough to have a left-handed coach, or a disproportionate number of lefties in your club to practice with. Or you simply stick with the sport long enough that the 15% of lefties you meet eventually adds up to a lot of experience.

Or switch to another sport where handedness doesn't have an impact
(e.g.: archery, because you don't to adapt to the handedness of your opponent.
or skiing, riding, (or chess), etc. because they are all symmetrical sports where the handedness of the participant doesn't change a single thing)

Re:I am right handed

[Godwin O'Hitler]

And I drink with my left hand. Nothing I can do to alter it.

Follow-up study propsal: eSports

[OneAhead]

Well, that wouldn't be too hard to verify. A lot of eSports revolve around extreme time constrains - hence the big market for low-latency HID (in the broad sense). If lefties are overrepresented there as well, it must have something to do with the organisation of their brains, since they won't make "unfamiliar moves" with a keyboard and mouse. Conversely, if lefties are not overrepresented in eSports, then the "unfamiliar moves" would seem to have more merit. I speculate the answer will be "a little bit of both, depending on which sports you look at." Either way, you'd have some data about the contributions of both effects to each sport, which should make for an interesting read.

Re:Cricket Time Pressure?

[tehcyder]

The ball is bowled at around 140-160kph from about 20 yards away from you. That gives you less than 0.4s to respond to the trajectory. It's a bit longer than baseball, for example, but that is somewhat mitigated by the increased area that the ball can reach you, with deliberately attempting to make it bounce into your body or face completely legitimate (and actively encouraged in some situations).

A close catcher in cricket has approximately half that time to catch the ball, which borders on the limits of human reactions.

Test matches are five day long competitions the results of which depend on a couple of thousand actions that all happen in the blink of an eye.

But bowlers don't switch hands as they're running up, the batsman knows what's coming just like he knows whether it's a spin or pace bowler at the other end.

Re:I am right handed

[tehcyder]

And I drink with my left hand. Nothing I can do to alter it.

That is entirely natural: it leaves your sword hand free.

Re:Counter: NFL

[burhop]

Yes, but Tim Tebow counts double.

(would have been funnier a couple years ago. I'll mod myself down.)

Re:go fuck yourself

[Half-pint HAL]

You realise us righties are closer to snails than lefties are...? You can see it in your hair.

Re:and math and immune disorders

[Half-pint HAL]

And this was considered to be nature, not nurture.

Weird nature point: lefties and ambidextrous people typically have less of a "sworl" on the crown of their heads, meaning their hair is more symmetrical at the back (righties' hair tends to spiral to behind the left ear before going downwards, lefties' hair tends to go straight down across the back.)

Baseball is about geometry

[jonhainer]

In baseball, it's more about geometry than how frequently you see left-handers.

Right-handed batters bat from the third-base side of home plate. When facing a right handed pitcher, curve balls curve towards the batter's body. When facing a left-handed pitcher, curve balls curve away from their body. Left-handed hitters are the opposite. They bat from the first-base side of the plate. For them, left-handed curve balls break towards the batter's body, and right-handed curve balls break away from their body.

Most batters find it easier to hit a ball that is breaking away from their body. Therefore, left-handed batters tend to hit better against right-handed pitchers, and vice-versa. It's good to have both left-handed and right-handed players, both batters and pitchers, to gain the geometry advantage whenever it makes sense.

Sinister

[minstrelmike]

dextral: right-handed sinistral: left-handed.

The connotation of 'sinister" came from all those sinistral sword-fighters in medieval Europe. Left-handers won all the amateur fights, and by win, that means killed the opponent.

Left-handed BATTERS, on the other hand

[Ungrounded Lightning]

As was pointed out above, a handed mismatch is better for the batter, who gets a better view of the ball.

Left-handed BATTERS, on the other hand, have one to two steps less to travel when running for first base. So a left-handed pitcher is better against the more advantaged batters.

Re:Left-handed BATTERS, on the other hand

[Ungrounded Lightning]

Left-handed BATTERS, on the other hand, have one to two steps less to travel when running for first base.

Left-handed batters also get a momentum boost on startup from decelerating and dropping the bat. A right-hander would have to fling it behind himself to get the equivalent boost, and throwing the bat is a no-no. Instead he loses momentum when slowing it to drop it.

A World of Right Handed Mice

[Tenebrousedge]

Brain organization isn't the only potential factor there. I think most of us southpaws are used to using right-handed mice. I'm potentially taking a dip in mouse accuracy by doing so, but after a lifetime of use I suspect the difference is slight. I'm in no other sense ambidextrous, but with a mouse and keyboard I certainly don't feel like I have an "off hand". So your study would probably want to consider only games with left/right symmetric input devices, if you want to isolate the brain component.

Outliers by Malcom Gladwell Explains This

[jeffrlamb]

The majority of professional hockey players are born in January and February. . .
. . . because the cut off for each age group, when they are kids, is Dec 31.

If you are a little better than everyone else young(a few months older or left handed in a sport with time pressure), you get more attention from the coaches, more playing time, and get better. That compounds over years.

The book Outliers is a great read and explains all this.

Even if left handedness's advantage gets diluted later in life when half the people are left handed through selection, the effect when you are young would still persist.