Why are there so few (zero?) left-handed catchers?

[Bahama O's Fan]

But at an advantage throwing out runners stealing first!

:scratchchinhmm:

Imagine Pudge Rodr?guez throwing pickoffs to first left handed.

[Redskins Rick]

Were catchers positioned farther back in the 1880's? Seems to me I've seen old pictures where the catcher was standing up, about 8 feet back from home plate. That might explain the LH catchers way back then, since it wouldn't matter as much which hand the catcher threw with from back there.

Thats a question for Drungo!

[DrungoHazewood]

According to the BBR query, since 1901 there have been 3009 left handed or switch hitting position players in MLB. Of them, 307 caught at least 50% of their games. That's almost 10% on the nose. 1/10 ain't bad considering there are eight positions plus DH for some time.

My guess is, if there is in fact a dearth of L/S catchers at the moment, it's just a statistical lull.

As others have noted there hasn't been a regular LH throwing catcher in over 100 years. I believe that Jack Clements, who retired in 1900, was the last.

Most left handers that have the arm strength to play catcher are converted to pitchers is one theory. Another is that lefties have a hard time throwing runners out at third. Probably the best answer is the belief that lefties can't play catcher at higher levels so they aren't developed as catchers at a young age.

That's always made the most sense to me. With the advantages of lefty pitchers, almost anyone with Matt Wieters' arm strength who throws lefty is made into a pitcher. Also, just good ol' baseball tradition. People believed that RH catchers were better, so almost all catchers were righties, and they stopped making LH catchers mitts. The chances of your local general store, Woolworths', etc stocking a LH catchers mitt in 1960 was basically zero.

I'll buy the idea that it's harder to throw out runners going to third, but very few runners even attempt to steal third, and I have to think that there are poor rightly throwers who would be worse than an excellent lefty catcher.

Were catchers positioned farther back in the 1880's? Seems to me I've seen old pictures where the catcher was standing up, about 8 feet back from home plate. That might explain the LH catchers way back then, since it wouldn't matter as much which hand the catcher threw with from back there.

Yes, absolutely. Before modern catching equipment started to be used it was borderline insane to take the position that today's catchers use. As late as the 1890s I believe it was pretty common for catchers to play maybe 10' back from where they currently sit, at least with no runners on and less than two strikes. They'd catch the ball on the bounce, or maybe just try to smother it in the dirt. A big catchers' mitt didn't exist until maybe the 1880s. In the real early days they'd actually try to catch bare handed. Passed balls and wild pitches were comically more frequent than today.

And that actually worked because in the 19th century there was one ump, who typically stood somewhere near the mound. The current setup of the ump directly behind the catcher didn't start until sometime after the turn of the century, when 2 or 3 man crews came into being.