One of the charms of baseball is that no matter how long you've been a fan, you might witness something you've never seen before at any game you attend. That held true for me Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium, when Pat Venditte came into pitch for Toronto. A onetime Yankee farmhand, Venditte is the first hurler in modern times to throw from both sides of the plate. Yes, he's the guy who pitches both right- and left-handed.
In the bottom of the 8th inning, he faced switch hitter Chase Headley throwing lefty, forcing Headley to work from his weaker right side. He stayed in lefthander mode against lefty-handed hitting Didi Gregorius. Then he switched throwing arms -- and moved his specially made glove to the opposite hand -- to work righthanded against righty hitting Austin Romine.
One guy, two different pitching positions in the same inning! Venditte faced three Yankee batters: Headley hit a sacrifice fly, Gregorius singled and Romine struck out.
Are you curious about Pat's glove? Since he can't change gear several times an inning, he wears a specially designed ambidexterous model, with a thumb area on each end.
It's within the rules, but again, like nothing we're used to seeing.
I'm not sure Pat Venditte will usher in a revolution in baseball -- pitching is a difficult enough art, so mastering it from both sides is almost unbelievable. But I saw it with my own eyes Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.
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