Why Do Lefty's Have More Movement?

As a left-handed pitcher, I grew up hearing how lucky I was to be left-handed. "All lefties are so lucky" they would say. "Lefties have more movement and some throw natural curves" were a few of sayings the little league dads would remark. So what is it about us southpaws that seem to make us so unique?

For starters, only 13% of the world's population is left handed. So naturally, there are less of us out there. Let's face it, we live in a right handed world. Hitters are used to facing right handed pitchers from little league on up through the big leagues. When they see a guy throwing with the "wrong" arm, it takes some getting used to. This difficulty is compounded when a left handed hitter attempts to hit off a lefty pitcher. Not only are they not used to seeing a lefty, the ball is also coming out from behind the hitter. This just compounds the trouble.

Also, many left handed little leaguers do have a tendency to throw with their hand on the side of the ball, causing it to move or run away from a right handed hitter. Of course, righties can do this too, but many of them seem to have more trouble developing this movement. I don't have a sound explanation for this phenomena, but I do have my theory. I can't prove it, but it makes sense to me, so I will share it with you.

The theory is as follows: We know the Earth rotates West to East or counter-clockwise if looking down from the North Pole. This rotation, in conjunction with the orbit of the Earth around the sun creates magnetic fields that pull on the different polar regions. For righties, the pronation of their throwing arm (turning inwards) on release must create a type of spin that is in unison with the Earth's gravitational and rotational forces. On the contrary, I believe the left-handed pitcher creates a spin that is in direct contradiction to these forces. As a baseball thrown by a lefty travels through the air, these unique forces pulling on the baseball create the added movement that a hitter see's when facing the Tom Glavine of their respective league. Now as I said, I don't have the scientific equations to prove my theory, but it does appear to be true based on the extra movement that most lefties have.

If anyone out there has a better explanation, I'd love to hear about it. In the mean time, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Until Next Time!!

P.S. I am totally kidding about my theory (but not really).