I think the switch hitter is one of the coolest things in baseball. A player that can hit both ways brings so much value to his team because he always has the upper hand against the pitcher. If the a left hand reliever is brought out, then the hitter goes right — and vice versa.
There are many switch hitters in the league — Chipper Jones, Chone Figgins, and Carlos Beltran are among the ones that first come to my mind. However, the premier switch hitter in all of baseball is New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira and he showed why in yesterday’s Yankees’ 6-0 win against the White Sox.
Teixeira slugged two home runs against the White Sox yesterday, one from each side of the plate. That was the 12th time “Big Tex” had done that in his career, eclipsing the mark (11) held by switch hitters Eddie Murray and Chili Davis and also giving him the Major-league record in that category.
After the game, Teixeira spoke about the record acknowledging the fact that he surpassed legendary Orioles slugger Eddie Murray in the record books:
“I grew up in Baltimore. Eddie was such a great player. I always messed around as a switch hitter in the backyard,” Teixeira said.
“I started playing baseball at a really young age in the backyard. I had a few swings right-handed, I would switch over to left-handed and try to hit it over the fence left-handed. That record is pretty special.”
The two homers give Teixeira 31 on the season and trails only Jose Bautista (32) for most homers in all of baseball.
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