Left-Handers Facts Pt.8

Although there is no “proof” of a direct relationship between left-handedness and the skills required for music, the visual arts, the sciences, politics, and a great variety of competitive sports, the anecdotal evidence suggests that there must be some significant advantages to being left-handed.

There seems to be a disproportionate presence of left-handed players in sports such as tennis and cricket. The angles are different, which makes the play of a left-hander more difficult to predict. Bjorn Borg, Martina Navratilova, Jimmy Connors, and John McEnroe in tennis, and ace cricketers David Gower and Brian Lara are excellent examples.

Currently with the Arizona Diamondbacks, lefty pitcher Randy Johnson, the “Big Unit,” clinched the World Series for his team in 2001, giving the Diamondbacks their first ever pennant. Johnson has one of the most dominant fastballs in the game, regularly approaching, and exceeding, 100 miles per hour. Winner of the Cy Young Award five times, Johnson’s signature pitch is a hard, biting slider.
The ability to read a person’s true intentions contributes to better communication. Canadian scholars recently found that left-handers were “substantially better at detecting deception than were right-handers.”

People who are left-hand dominant but have a dominant right eye, or vice versa, may be more artistic than those who have the same dominant hand and eye. [This makes me extremely happy. I’m left-handed and right-eyed.]

Parents of an aspiring lefty guitar player may want to try this trick. Buy a low-cost right-handed guitar with a floating bridge. Take off the strings and reposition the bridge 180 degrees-the grooves for the fattest strings are now at the top.

Often referred to as the “Father of Gay Liberation,” Harry Hay dedicated his life to progressive politics. This lefty activist taught at the California Labor School, worked on domestic campaigns, and was active in anti-draft, anti-war, and Native American movements.

Lefty actor Robert Sean Leonard began his acting career at New York’s Ridgewood Theater at the age of fourteen. Five years later he made his film debut in the Academy Award-winning Dead Poets Society, starring with Robin Williams and Ethan Hawke. In 2001, Leonard won a Tony Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Play for his performance in Tom Stoppard’s The Invention of Love. Currently, he plays Dr. James Wilson, head of the oncology department, on the series House.

According to Scottish lore, the fifteenth-century castle Ferniehirst was built by left-hander Andrew Kerr, forefather of the legendary clan. The stairs spiral counterclockwise so that when you descend the stone steps, the right of you is pinned against a stone wall, while the left is free, allowing left-handed swordsmen to defend themselves more easily.