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Source of "South Paw"

Posted by Tom Weber on October 19, 2000

I was pondering the origin of the baseball term for a left handed pitcher --- "South Paw". I guess that it refers to an early standard of baseball field construction whereby center field is generally to the east such that when the afternoon and evening sun is bright (when most games were payed), it would not shine in the eyes of the batters. The western sky (where the low sun would be low and bright in the sky) is behind home plate; therefore, the batter would be looking east. The pitcher's left side (and left hand) would be on his south side. Therefore, a left handed pitcher came to be know as a south paw.
--- Can anyone confirm or refute this ???

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