Switch Hitting Hall of Famers

Yesterday, I was reading a book about baseball. It had cool stories, and awesome pictures. One story was about Mickey Mantle, one of the best hitters in baseball history. The coolest part about him is that he could hit from both sides of the plate! Can you believe that? I have enough trouble hitting from just ONE side of the plate!

When batters can hit from either side of the plate, it’s called switch hitting. TEN players have been able to reach the Hall of Fame switch hitting. The book I was reading even said that as long as there aren’t two strikes, you can switch sides in the middle of an at-bat! That would be really weird. It would be fun to try it in a game. Take a couple of pitches as a righty, and then walk around the plate and take the rest as a lefty!

I decided to try swinging lefty with a plastic bat in my living room. I swung as hard as I could from a lefty stance, imagining myself crushing a homerun. WHOOPS! I slipped on the rug, the bat went flying and hit the ceiling fan!

I think I’ll stay to just swinging righty!

Can You Believe Spitballs Were Legal?

WOW! Did you know that it was once legal to throw spitballs? (and yes, spitballs are what they sound like.) The spit makes the ball spin in all sorts of wacky ways! Before 1934, pitchers were allowed to rub spit on baseballs to make them harder for batters to hit!

Burleigh Arland Grimes (photo: National Baseball Hall of Fame)

I decided to test it out with Kate at our local ballfield. I walked out to the pitching rubber and covered the ball in my saliva. I wound up and threw as hard as I could to Kate. The ball slipped a little and sailed WAY over her head. It nailed the metal backstop. I wasn’t too happy with my pitch. Neither was Kate (she says that she felt something wet drop off the ball when it hit the backstop).

I think everybody is glad they outlawed the spitball! I know that Kate is.