Why are left-handers sometimes called "South Hands"?

There is a common opinion that the word "South hand" came from baseball practice, which consisted in setting the slugger face east, to avoid getting into the eyes of the midday sun. That's why left-handed pitchers, who faced west, held their hand with a glove in the south.

Not so simple

However, there is information that such a description is too simplistic. In fact, the very first mention of the term "South Hands" dates back to 1858, but in relation to the left-handed player at the first base, and not in relation to the pitcher. Also, some baseball players remember that they were called "South Hands", although they were beating, not pitchers, and they kept the bat in his left hand. Accordingly, the term refers simply to players who were left-handed, and not specifically to the pitchers, whose gloves looked south due to the specific location of the baseball field.

Other location of the stadiums

As was said by many baseball experts, even in those times not all stadiums were located so that the sun did not shine in the eyes of the batterer - there were many other options for the location of the stadium.

Boxing

However, there is another theory of the emergence of this term - perhaps he did not appear in baseball, but in boxing. In the records of 1860 there was already the use of the term "southern hand", when it was described which hand the blow was struck. Moreover, there are even earlier references to the "southern hand" - for example, in 1848 a political caricature was published, in which this concept also appeared. But in this case it is already difficult to say why the left hand of boxers in some cases was called "southern". But, however that may be, the term has a sporting origin, regardless of whether it was first used in baseball or in boxing.