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Path: utzoo!decvax!tektronix!uw-beaver!fowler
From: fowler@uw-beaver (Rob Fowler)
Newsgroups: net.sport.baseball
Subject: Switch pitchers.
Message-ID: <1624@uw-beaver>
Date: Fri, 4-Oct-85 20:24:24 EDT
Article-I.D.: uw-beave.1624
Posted: Fri Oct  4 20:24:24 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 5-Oct-85 17:44:37 EDT
Reply-To: fowler@uw-beaver.UUCP (Rob Fowler)
Distribution: na
Organization: U of Washington Computer Science
Lines: 34
Xref: tektronix net.sport.baseball:02108 

Since there was a discussion of the subject of switch pitchers,
I thought you  might enjoy this quotation from "It's What You Learn After You 
Know it All That Counts", Earl Weaver's autobiography.

p.15 -- "Sammy Stewart earned the win in relief, allowing only 1 hit and no
runs in 4-1/3 innings.  The highlight of his appearance occurred with 2 out
in the ninth.  Stewart, a strapping right-hander, got 2 quick strikes on
left-hand-hitting Dave Revering.  Then Stewart-whom Rick Dempsey calls `a
crazy country boy from Swannonoa, North Carolina'- suddenly slipped the
glove off his left hand and onto his right.  He started into a left-handed
wind-up and was about to throw the ball southpaw, but Revering stepped out
of the batter's box.  Then Stewart reversed his glove and threw a
right-handed pitch that Revering popped up to end the game.

"I can throw left-handed," Steward said afterward. "Hard, too.  The guys
have seen me do it in the outfield before games.  I was going for the
element of surprise.  Trouble was, Revering picked it up and backed out.
Maybe next time"

But pitching coach Ran Miller and general manager Hank Peters were upset
about Stewart's glove switch, as if they feared the Yankees might think he
was trying to show them up.  Weaver thought "it was one of the greatest
things I've ever seen."

He was laughing about the incident in his office. "I would have been
delighted if he'd thrown left-handed," Earl said. "If it had been a strike,
I would have used Sammy 3 innings tomorrow night left-handed.  Sammy says
he's got a good curveball lefty and he was thinking of throwing one to
Reggie Jackson, who was up before Revering. I love it!, Hell, it's things
like this that have kept me in the game so long!  You can always come to the
ball park and see something you've never seen before." (end of quotation)

Notice that from this account that the major leaguers seemed to not have
questioned the legality of switch pitching.