That's why MANY players chose to bat in the lefty box. Notice I've refrained from calling them left handed because they are not. Those who chose the lefty box rather than assigned to it by left handedness at birth were lefty batters of opportunity. They threw righty but chose to bat lefty because of the advantage, which predated the curve ball.
Babe Ruth was a lefty at birth; he both threw lefty and batted lefty.
Ted Williams was a lefty batter opportunist. By the time both Ruth and Williams started playing, there was an additional advantage to batting lefty. Curve balls are more difficult to hit by batters in the same box as the pitcher throws. Example: a righty batter has more difficulty hitting a curve thrown by a righty pitcher. And about 72 percent of pitches have always been thrown by righty pitchers.
So that's TWO huge advantages for lefty batters.
In recent seasons batters have pulled the ball more than ever to try to jack it out of the park. 2018 was the first season in which strike outs exceeded hits.
With the addition of ever increasing data on where balls are hit by individual batters, teams have shifted their fielders to stand where batters are most likely to hit the ball in specific situations. A lefty batter hits a line drive just to the right of second base or deep to the right of the second baseman expecting a sure hit only to have a fielder standing right there for an easy out.
Teams can afford to play an extreme shift more against lefty batters because the fielders have been moved closer to first base where an infield out will be recorded. Shifting like that against righty batters moves fielders away from first base.
So the historical advantage for lefty batters is now working against them but only because they are too stubborn or incompetent to do the Willie Keeler thing:
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/quotes/quokeel.shtml
"I have already written a treatise and it reads like this: Keep your eye clear and hit 'em where they ain't; that's all." - Wee Willie Keeler to Sportswriter Abe Yager in the Brooklyn Eagle
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The objective is not to hit the ball hard but to hit it away from fielders. One way to do this is to hit a home run over a wall. But even in this extreme home run era that still has a relatively low percentage of success.
Willie Keeler
Position: Rightfielder
Bats: Left • Throws: Left
5-4, 140lb (163cm, 63kg)
OK, so Keeler was very small, a natural lefty and played a million years ago.
Ted Williams
Position: Leftfielder
Bats: Left • Throws: Right
6-3, 205lb (190cm, 92kg)
Buried: Frozen
Let's not get distracted by the frozen thing.
Williams had a reputation for hitting into the teeth of the shift, which was occasionally employed against him.
Did Ted Williams try to beat the shift? He bunted at least 14 times: .917 BA. Tuesday, September 2, 2014
One More:
Mickey Mantle
Positions: Centerfielder and First Baseman
Bats: Both • Throws: Right
5-11, 195lb (180cm, 88kg)
Born: October 20, 1931 in Spavinaw, OK us
Buried: Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park, Dallas, TX
Real men bunt ... and hit homers. Monday, May 12, 2014
career bunting for Mantle: 87 for 165:
BA: .527
On Base: .527
SLG: .527
OPS: .1.054
And Mantle's bunts were almost exclusively against non-shift defenses. When he retired after the 1968 season Mickey Mantle was number three in career home runs, behind only Ruth and Mays. That despite 179 PA, including sacrifices, which ended with bunts.
Today players will not try to bunt for hits against the shift.
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Mickey Mantle and others who bunted for hits. Thursday, April 9, 2015
Both Mantle and Williams hit more than 500 home runs.
Acquiesce to stubbornness and incompetence?
Batters are dumber than usual this season, hitting into the shift most of the time. Monday, April 7, 2014
Restrict where fielders can stand? The horror. The horror. Thursday, December 6, 2018
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