sports illustrated

[mittmutt]

Did anyone see the interesting glove in this weeks sports ill? It's on pages 8 and 9 and it's made for a college pitcher by the name of Pat Venditte who plays for Creighton. This kid pitches with both hands and has an 8-2 record with an era of 1.83. In a recent start he threw 62 pitches with his lefthand and 30 with his right. The glove says TPX on the wrist strap and is totally ambidextrous. It's pretty cool and worth a look.

[Hrking4675]

A while back someone had one of these on Ebay along with a link about the glove. The kids dad had special ordered them from Mizuno for like $750 since he was a teenager. I saved some of the pics from that auction too if you want.

[mittmutt]

$750. Whoa, I hope the kid goes pro and can pay back his dad. Actually, what an incredible gift this kid must have to be able to throw from both sides like he does. Any baseball history guys out there that knows of any big leaguers who could pitch with either hand? Did they have an endorsed glove?

[robin_buckeye]

Three 19th-century pitchers are known to have thrown with both hands: Tony Mullane in 1882 and again in 1893, Elton Chamberlain in 1888, and Larry Corcoran in 1884.

Greg Harris is the only major league pitcher in the modern era to pitch with both his left and his right arm. A natural righty, by 1986 he could throw well enough with his left hand that he felt capable of pitching with either hand in a game.

Harris was not allowed to throw lefty in a regular-season game until September 28, 1995, the next-to-last game of his career.

Against the Cincinnati Reds in the ninth inning, Harris (then a member of the Montreal Expos) retired Reggie Sanders pitching right-handed, then switched to his left hand for the next two hitters, Hal Morris and Ed Taubensee, who both batted left-handed. Harris walked Morris but got Taubensee to ground out. He then went back to his right hand to retire Bret Boone to end the inning.

http://web.archive.org/web/200004082220 ... 030300.htm

[robin_buckeye]

Pat Venditte was drafted by the Yankees and is with the Staten Island Yankees. His first professional appearance was notable because of an unusual incident.

An opposing batter, Ralph Henriquez, was a switch-hitter, and after choosing to bat left- or right-handed (with Venditte subsequently choosing to pitch with the same hand), Henriquez would then go to the other side of the plate (and adjust his shin guard -- which is worn on the front leg when a batter takes his stance) to regain the advantage.

After this had happened several times the teams appealed to the umpiring crew, which ruled that the batter must first select from which side of the plate he intended to hit, and that the pitcher would then be allowed to declare with which arm he would pitch. Venditte subsequently struck out a very frustrated Henriquez (who slammed his bat against the dirt in anger) to end the game.

On July 3, 2008 the Professional Baseball Umpire Corporation issued a new rule (called the Pat Venditte Rule) to limit the number of times a switch-pitcher and switch-hitter can change sides during one at-bat.

Here’s how it reads:

The pitcher must visually indicate to the umpire, batter and runner(s) which way he will begin pitching to the batter. Engaging the rubber with the glove on a particular hand is considered a definitive commitment to which arm he will throw with. The batter will then choose which side of the plate he will bat from.

The pitcher must throw one pitch to the batter before any “switch” by either player is allowed.

After one pitch is thrown, the pitcher and batter may each change positions one time per at-bat. For example, if the pitcher changes from right-handed to left-handed and the batter then changes batter’s boxes, each player must remain that way for the duration of that at-bat (unless the offensive team substitutes a pinch hitter, and then each player may again “switch” one time).

Any switch (by either the pitcher or the batter) must be clearly indicated to the umpire. There will be no warm-up pitches during the change of arms.

If an injury occurs the pitcher may change arms but not use that arm again during the remainder of the game.