An Offhand Look At More Lefties

? Dwight F. Davis, founder of the Davis Cup, was left-handed.

?Of the top 30 major league hitters this past season, 17 batted left-handed and one, Pete Rose, was a switch hitter; 39 of the 82 batters in the Hall of Fame batted lefty, four were switch hitters, and 11 of the 39 pitchers threw lefty.

?The most sinistral NBA team used to be the New York Knicks of the late '60s. The Knicks' roster included six lefties: Willis Reed, Dick Barnett, Howie Komives, Don May, Mike Riordan and Phil Jackson. Not to forget Walt Frazier, a righty who occasionally passed left-handed as a high school quarterback in Atlanta. The most lefty team in the NBA currently is the Nets, featuring six southpaws on a 12-man roster: Nate Archibald, Al Skinner, Dave Wohl, Kim Hughes, Tim Bassett and Bubbles Hawkins.

? Baltimore Oriole Pitcher Mike Cuellar always insists on being warmed up by another southpaw, so Coach Jim Frey owns a left-handed catcher's mitt for this purpose. Pete LaCock, a left-handed Chicago Cub outfielder, also owns one, using it in the bullpen when he is not playing. Southpaw Sandy Koufax sometimes played behind the plate in the Brooklyn sandlots. He used a righthander's mitt turned inside out.

?On the subject of lefthanders, Al Schacht, erstwhile right-handed pitcher, restaurateur and Clown Prince of Baseball, said, "They throw crooked, they walk crooked and they think crooked. They even wear their clothes crooked. You have to figure that they're a little crazy."

? Miami Dolphin Placekicker Garo Yepremian is left-footed, but when he passes—which he has done, memorably, just once so far—it is with his right hand.

? Casey Stengel, a southpaw, observed, "Lefthanders have more enthusiasm for life. They sleep on the wrong side of the bed and their head gets more stagnant on that side."

?The Kingsport ( Tenn.) Braves, an Atlanta farm team in the Appalachian League, last season unveiled Audrey Scruggs, a 19-year-old with a good curve—with either hand. When switch pitcher Scruggs faced switch hitter Dan Spain of the Elizabethton ( Tenn.) Twins there was a three-minute minuet during which Scruggs kept changing hands and Spain kept jumping back and forth across the plate, each seeking a tactical advantage. The umpire finally ordered Spain to commit himself, and he chose to bat right-handed. Scruggs, throwing righty, retired him on an infield grounder.

?One study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that a southpaw can usually stretch the fingers on his right hand farther apart than those on his left. A righthander can generally stretch the fingers on his left hand farther apart.

?One theory for the prevalence of right-handedness today is that ancient warriors took to using the left hand for holding the shield over the heart, leaving the right hand to wield the spear. But then, it has also been argued that righthanders have always been greater in number. Something to do with the earth's rotation.