Two-armed Hurler May Be Given Chance With Mound-Desperate Cubs
By Hale Scarbrough
Herald and News (Klamath Falls, Oregon), 18 Feb 1949
A gangling 23-year-old Choctaw Indian from out of Anadarko, Oklahoma, is bidding to be the most diverting pitcher, if not the best, to come down the pike since Dizzy Dean entered the majors. This fellow is ambidextrous, meaning he can toss the ball with either hand.
He is Calvin Coolidge McLish, named for the 29th President of the United States but reputedly a great deal more talkative than the late Silent Cal.
Nominally McLish is a righthander but reports himself just waiting behind the bush for a chance to do a little flinging with his other, or south, arm. He says he has been able to throw a baseball with equal ability with either arm since his grade school days, but when he picks up a pencil or uses his fork it's with his right fist. So that makes him a righthander.
The big leagues haven't had a real ambidextrous pitcher since one Tony Mullane was throwing for the Cincinnati Reds of 1886 to 2893. Mullane was good and McLish, with more experience and a chance to try his stuff with either arm, may also be good.
There is nothing in baseball rules to prevent a pitcher working one game with one arm, the next with the other. There is nothing to prevent him mixing his pitches and feeding the batter from either side.
It's an engrossing topic for the imagination, a pitcher going in a dervish-like windup and leaving the batter to guess from which direction the ball is coming at him. If Manager Charlie Grimm of the Cubs lets McLish go ahead, baseball may possibly have uncovered another stellar attraction.
The fans will love an ambidextrous pitcher.
Read Article
Fans have waited long enough.
It's time to call up switch pitcher Pat Venditte to the majors.
.
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| Calvin Coolidge McLish |
By Hale Scarbrough
Herald and News (Klamath Falls, Oregon), 18 Feb 1949
A gangling 23-year-old Choctaw Indian from out of Anadarko, Oklahoma, is bidding to be the most diverting pitcher, if not the best, to come down the pike since Dizzy Dean entered the majors. This fellow is ambidextrous, meaning he can toss the ball with either hand.
He is Calvin Coolidge McLish, named for the 29th President of the United States but reputedly a great deal more talkative than the late Silent Cal.
Nominally McLish is a righthander but reports himself just waiting behind the bush for a chance to do a little flinging with his other, or south, arm. He says he has been able to throw a baseball with equal ability with either arm since his grade school days, but when he picks up a pencil or uses his fork it's with his right fist. So that makes him a righthander.
The big leagues haven't had a real ambidextrous pitcher since one Tony Mullane was throwing for the Cincinnati Reds of 1886 to 2893. Mullane was good and McLish, with more experience and a chance to try his stuff with either arm, may also be good.
There is nothing in baseball rules to prevent a pitcher working one game with one arm, the next with the other. There is nothing to prevent him mixing his pitches and feeding the batter from either side.
It's an engrossing topic for the imagination, a pitcher going in a dervish-like windup and leaving the batter to guess from which direction the ball is coming at him. If Manager Charlie Grimm of the Cubs lets McLish go ahead, baseball may possibly have uncovered another stellar attraction.
The fans will love an ambidextrous pitcher.
Read Article
Fans have waited long enough.
It's time to call up switch pitcher Pat Venditte to the majors.
.
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