Switch Pitcher Roy Gibbens - Texas A&M

Goal Lines by Mit Maloney
The Bryan (Texas) Daily Eagle, 25 Mar 1947

Switch Pitcher Roy Gibbens - ace of the Texas Aggie pitching staff 

Switch Pitcher as well as switch batter is Roy Gibbens, ace of the Aggie pitching staff this spring.
His left handed hurling developed when in grade school at LaPryor he hurt his right arm elbow and doctors told him he was through. So he took to throwing with his left.

But he kept working with his right arm and eventually the old snap came back and he starred in high school baseball to such a degree that baseball scouts signed him for professional ball at the tender age of 16.

His professional career was brief, however, and after a few appearances in the Arizona-Texas league he was given his unconditional release

He returned to high school, but was ineligible for sports, so kept in trim with sandlot ball, still throwing with both arms.

Was came and he enlisted in the marines, where he served with distinction, and rose to the rank of staff sergeant,. While in the service he played some baseball with the chicago navy pier and Miramar, Cal., marine teams.

As an ex-G. I., he chose to become a veterinarian and enrolled at A & M.

Last year he worked out with the Aggies, but still was ineligible.

Last May, he petitioned the conference for reinstatement as an amateur. After considering his age when he had signed a pro contract, his war record and record since he was release, the conference fathers gave him a clean bill of health and reinstated him.

Gibbens pitched to two Brooke Medical Center batsmen in the first inning of last Thursday's game. I get there the latter part of that inning, to late to see his southpaw work but I understand that he was awkward as a lefty, and will do most of his pitching with his right hand.

Dave Ferriss of the Boston Red Sox is another ambidextrous hurler. In college, he pitched right handed and played outfield left handed.

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