A Question for the SABR Folks

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Posted By: Kevin Cummings

I got a new (for me) book (Louisville Diamonds by Philip von Borries; Turner Publishing; 1996) yesterday about Louisville baseball and the author said there have been 5 ambidextrous pitchers in pro games.

Here's the approximate quote:

"Five pitchers are known to have switch-pitched (thrown both right-handed and left-handed in the same game) in major league history.......Besides Tony Mullane, the group includes Larry Corcoran (1884 Chicago White Stockings); John Roach (1887 New York National League Giants); another Louisville pitcher, Elton "Icebox" Chamberlain, the only man to win a switch-pitched game (an 18 - 6 victory versus Kansas City on May 9, 1888); and Greg Harris (1995 Montreal Expos)."

What makes it even more odd is that that one game was apparently the only one John Roach ever appeared in. This was the first time I had ever seen anything about Roach. I had read about the other four players in various places, so I'm wondering where the author got that piece of information.

Maybe one of you SABR members you could see if the SABR folks have a line on that fact.