What is the origin of the word "southpaw" and what does it have to do with which direction a base is facing in baseball?
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cookielady
ANSWERS: 3
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A southpaw is a boxer who leads with a right fist raised instead of the left
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southpaw#Southpaw
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Later adopted throughout the sporting world and beyond, the term was coined by a Chicago sportswriter reporting routinely on Cubs games at Wrigley Field sometime during the early 1900s. While no longer true, in the late 1800s and early 20th Century the standard was to build playing fields in such a way as to maximize exposure to the sun during what were then almost always afternoon games while avoiding hitters having to look into the sun with the first base line running due east-west, third north-south. Wrigley was no exception. Left-handed pitchers, therefore, delivered the ball from the south side of Wrigley's mound. Hence, southpaw for lefties. It is, however, unclear as to just who the beat writer was and for which paper he first used the expression or for which pitcher. In Major League Baseball circles, however, there is no disagreement on the term originating in the Chicago baseball press.
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