International Left Handers Day at La Vida Baseball
By Miguel Martinez
Here at La Vida Baseball we celebrate Latino peloteros and their stories. Today is International Left Handers Day so we rounded up some of our favorite stories about our favorite left-handed Latino pitchers and hitters.
There are a couple Hall of Famers, some iconic arms, and a Mexican arms race. All of them are lefties, and they provide a great excuse to spend your International Left Handers Day reading great baseball stories.
Fernando Valenzuela
Thirty eight years later Fernando Valenzuela’s, Fernandomania remains one of baseball’s most memorable crazes. The Mexican lefty was electrifying and dominant in the summer of ’81. The southpaw from Sonora remains the only pitcher to win Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Award in the same season.
Fernando turned Mexicans into baseball fans like no one had before.
Fernando, Los Doyers and Me
His delivery remains etched in the minds of everybody who saw him pitch.
Fernando Valenzuela made me a believer in ’81
“I look up to the hills, from where cometh my help.”
Ted Williams
We’ll let you debate whether or not Ted Williams should be considered Latino, thanks to his mother, because we already did. What’s not up for debate is whether or not the war hero is one of the best left handed hitters of all-time.
Actually, the Splendid Splinter is arguably the best hitter to ever live. It pays to remember that he was taught how to hit by his mother’s brothers.
Was Ted Williams Latino? The case for
Was Ted Williams Latino? The case against
Rod Carew
The Panamanian Hall of Famer got on base a ton with 15 straight .300 batting average seasons. There’s so much more to know about one of the best left-handed batters of all-time.
La Vida Voices: The Life of Rod Carew
Rod Carew: Michelangelo on the Diamond
Johan Santana
Even though Johan Santana had a great career on the mound, he wanted to play in the field at shortstop. The Venezuelan lefty wasn’t set up for success at shortstop despite teaching himself to throw right-handed.
Then a coach of his asked him to make a positional change to pitcher and changed the course of his career.
Johan Santana’s struggle with unfinished business
Teddy Higuera
What’s better than a Mexican lefty? Two of them! The summer of 1986 saw two Mexican lefties tallying up wins for their struggling teams and dominating batters on the way there. The Brewers’ Teddy Higuera fell short of the Cy Young Award that year as did the Dodgers’ Fernando Valenzuela.
The summer the Dodgers and Brewers made Mexican MLB history