Switching it up

 

I'm not sure where I got this post idea, it's possible it came from Nick's blog, but the spark from wherever made me wonder about switch-hitters and cards.

How easy was it to find separate cards of a switch-hitter hitting from both sides of the plate, or at least posing as both a left-handed batter and right-handed batter?

My guess was it's probably pretty easy. And in researching, I found that it's very easy.

Just to have a frame of reference, I found this article from three years ago, presenting a lineup of the best switch-hitters in MLB history. Then I went to work going through my collection. Even in this era of being able to find almost any card image on TCDB, etc., I still would rather pull cards from my collection when I can. Yeah, it takes longer and, oh, the putting back, but I'm a slave to tradition.

 

Here is a look at the team (remember, I didn't pick this team) and a card of each player as a lefty and righty swinger:

 

 

Left field: Tim Raines

Cards: 1984 Topps (lefty) and 1985 Topps (righty)

Thought: My mind went right to 1985 Topps, then it was just a matter of finding the left-handed stance card.

Second base: Roberto Alomar

Cards: 1990 Topps (righty) and 1989 Topps (lefty)

Thought: There are two switch-hitters I think of instantly, they're both coming up on this team. Then there are those I don't think of at all. Roberto Alomar is one. Finding a card of each wasn't too difficult, although there are plenty of fielding shots to sift through.

Center field: Mickey Mantle

Cards: 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter (righty) and 2006 Topps (lefty)

Thought: Mantle is definitely not the first switch-hitter, but he's the earliest one of major fame, or maybe it's Frankie Frisch. But he's the consensus best switch-hitter of all-time, right?

Third base: Chipper Jones

Cards: 1994 Pacific (lefty) and 2008 Topps Heritage (righty)

Thought: Everything on that Pacific card looks big, the trophy, the bat, the scoreboard might fall on him.

First base: Eddie Murray

Cards: 1979 Topps (lefty) and 1985 Topps (righty)

Thought: '85 Topps was also my first thought with Murray, who is one of the first two switch-hitters I think of.

Designated hitter: Lance Berkman

Cards: 2004 Topps (lefty) and 2011 Topps Update (righty)

Thought: The trickiest player to find both in my collection, it seems like almost all of my Berkman cards show him from the left side of the plate. (Also, I have like 200 different Eddie Murrays and 33 Berkmans).

 

Right field: Reggie Smith

Cards: 1980 Topps (righty) and 1981 Donruss (lefty)

Thought: My favorite switch-hitter. It's amazing with all the Smith batting cards in my collection that finding him batting lefty and righty is just occurring to me.

Catcher: Ted Simmons

Cards: 1981 Topps (lefty) and 1976 Topps (righty)

Thought: It's already been three years since Simmons was inducted into the Hall of Fame. 

Shortstop: Francisco Lindor

Cards: 2019 Topps Big League (lefty) and 2017 Topps Father's Day insert (righty)

Thought: Another tricky one, mostly because Topps' priorities when selecting Lindor photos seem to be: 1. Get him fielding; 2. Get him smiling. I went with two follow-through shots, which I tried to avoid in this exercise, because that's all I had.

 

Utility: Pete Rose

Cards: 1975 Topps (lefty) and 1971 Topps (righty)

Thought: Yeah, I know, you were wondering where the heck Pete Rose was. Me, too. Putting him at the utility position is pretty nuts. He's the first guy I think of for the topic of switch-hitters.

There were also runner-up players selected, I'll just list those here: Roy White (LF), Frankie Frisch (2B), Carlos Beltran (CF), Bobby Bonilla (3B), Mark Teixeira (1B), Chili Davis (DH), Ken Singleton (RF), Jorge Posada (C), Jose Reyes (SS), Tony Phillips, Ben Zobrist (UT)

The MLB story also picked Carlos Zambrano as the pitcher, but there's a DH on the team so he's not batting. Also I have only one card of Zambrano batting.

OK, curiosity satisfied.

I need to get a robot to put back these cards.