Switch Pitching 101

Two-armed Hurler May Be Given Chance With Mound-Desperate Cubs 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 a...

Ambidextrous McLish Stops Braves on 5 Hits Brooklyn Rookie Can Relieve Self on Hill The Mason City Globe-Gazette (Mason City, Iowa) 10 Jun 1944 By Glen Perkins New York, (UP) - Calvin Coolidge McLish, 18 year old Choctaw Indian from Oklahoma City, Okla., born as his name suggests, during the regime of the late republican president, Saturday loomed as a definite threat in 2 roles to National league hitters. McLish, a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers' mound staff and termed by Dodger President Branch Rickey as a "great prospect," seems to have been a real find, particularly for Brooklyn. The young man is ambidextrous and Brooklyn fans have seen stranger things than a pitcher relieving himself when his arm gets tired. The borough, which has seen 3 of its own major leaguers on the same base at the  same time in the past, may, some day, see McLish relieving McLish. If the right arm, which has seen all the service so far this year, gets tired, not...