Skip to main content

Paul Green - Ambidextrous Pitcher and Pulitzer Prize Winner

Paul Eliot Green
Paul Eliot Green
17 March 1894 - 4 May 1981
Harnett County, North Carolina
Buie's Creek Academy, Class of 1914

 Colleges: University of North Carolina, Cornell

 Positions: LHP/RHP (ambidextrous pitcher)


Paul Green, Harnett County’s Native Son, was a powerful pitcher – AND he could pitch with either hand and DID, without declaring which one – back in the good old days of baseball!
source: PaulGreen.org

 How Paul Green started switch pitching - 
"When he was 10, he got osteomyelitis in his right arm and had to have a serious operation at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, another terrifying experience. But he showed a typical Paul Green resilience and determination when, during his convalescence, he learned to pitch ball with his left arm, a talent that brought him money later in life as an ambidextrous sandlot league pitcher. (It was still legal in those days to disguise which hand the ball was to emerge from.") -- from A Daughter's Biography of Paul Green.....

"In addition to working the farm, Paul and [brother] Hugh hunted together and played semiprofessional baseball in towns up and down the river. Paul became such a fine ambidextrous pitcher that he supported himself a couple of summers with his baseball earnings." -- from A Southern Life: Letters of Paul Green, 1916-1981 (Laurence Avery, editor).

Green's switch pitching strategy - 
According to teammate Daniel Stewart, Green usually pitched right-handed to right-handed batters and left-handed to lefties, but occasionally changed hands while pitching to the same batter. Stewart played baseball several summers with Green and thought him the only one of his acquaintances with major league potential.

 .....

Author Paul Green (1894-1981) was one of the South’s most revered writers, and one of America’s most distinguished. The first playwright from the South to gain national and international recognition, he was part of that remarkable generation of writers who first brought southern writing to the attention of the world. Read More

Paul Green Wins Pulitzer
The Pulitzer Prize for drama was awarded to Harnett native Paul Green in 1927 for his work In Abraham's Bosom.

Paul Green was born and raised in Harnett County near Buie's Creek. In his early years, he gained notoriety in the area as an outstanding, ambidextrous baseball pitcher. Following graduation from Buie's Creek Academy in 1914, Green attended the University of North Carolina before being called away to serve in the 30th Division during World War I. Upon his return from service, Green did graduate work in philosophy at both the University of North Carolina (UNC) and Cornell, before returning to UNC as an assistant professor of philosophy.

source:

Harnett County:: A History

 By John Hairr




...


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fastball Velocity - How fast do kids throw?

How fast does a Little League pitcher throw? The average fastball is between 50-60 mph for a  pitcher in the Majors division of Little League (11-13 yo). Pitchers in the Little League World Series throw fastballs 60-70+ mph. Only a few pitchers touched 70+ mph in 2015 and 2016. One man-child hit 81 mph on the radar. This velocity is almost unhittable from 46 feet  and extremely rare for a 13 year old. #18 RHP Carlos Gonzalez - Panama 79-81 mph fastball  105 mph MLB equivalent reaction time #18 RHP Jaekyeong Kim - South Korea 75-76 mph fastball #19 RHP Ryan Harlost - Mid-Atlantic, Endwell, NY 71-74 mph fastball Threw a complete game to win the 2016 Little League World Series Loreto Siniscalchi , a 6'1" pitcher from Canada, threw in the mid 70s and completely dominated the hitters from Japan.  He led Team Canada to its first victory over Japan in 18 years. Big right-hander Isaiah Head from Kentucky threw 70-73 mph fastballs. His record was 3-0, 12 I
Post a Comment
Read more

Pitchers Glove Rules - Size and Color

What are the rules on a pitchers glove? According to the official baseball rules, a pitchers glove can be up to 12 inches in size , of any weight , and any color except white or gray as long as it is not distracting.  The Akadema ABX-00 glove, pictured above, is 12 inches,  solid black and is not distracting according to local umpires. Little League Rules Gray glove is not allowed for pitching  White glove is not allowed for pitching Little League Rule 1.14: Each fielder, other than the first baseman and the catcher may wear a glove not more than 12 inches long nor more than 7 3/4 inches wide, measured from the base of the thumb crotch to the outer edge of the glove. The glove may be of any weight. Little League Rule  1.15 (a) : The pitcher's glove may not, exclusive of the piping, be white or light gray, nor, in the judgment of an umpire, distracting in any manner. (source: Little League Baseball Rules Regarding Bats and Gloves ) Off
Post a Comment
Read more

Baseball Glove Options for Switch Pitchers

Custom made  Mizuno ambidextrous glove Looking for a glove for a switch pitcher? Before spending hundreds of dollars on a custom glove, please think about age of the player and how much time they will spend pitching. Here are glove options for ambidextrous pitchers, based on age: Age 3-5 Kids don't pitch at this age. They should be learning the proper way to throw. Young kids should try catching the ball with two hands. Use tennis balls or foam balls for throwing. Forget about the low quality plastic glove - it's in the landfill within a year. Gloves are awkward for young kids. If they learn two hand catch when they are young and continue with the skill, they will do well fielding balls when they are older. Learning to throw with both arms is easy at this stage. If a child can throw with either hand when they are three-years-old, it doesn't mean that they are talented or ambidextrous - it just means that they are a typical kid. Gloves:  Buy a small leath
7 comments
Read more