Greatest Left-Handed Athletes of All Time People In Sports

Greatest Left-Handed Athletes of All Time

original ranker The Round Mound  16,345 views 71 items 5 followers
The greatest left-handed athletes of all time are some of the greatest men and women to ever play baseball, basketball, football, hockey, tennis and many other sports. These talented athletes dominated their respective sports all while being in a minority, as a left-handed person. These athletes are not by any means all of the left-handed athletes but simply the best of the left-handed sports players ever. But which athlete is best? Tell us which left-handed athlete you think was the best ever by voting, re-ranking and adding your favorites below!

While all sports will see their share of left-handed athletes, the hand orientation will affect some athletes more than others. Being left handed is something you might not notice for hockey players, like Terry Sawchuk and Phil Esposito, basketball players, like Larry Bird and Bill Russell, and soccer players, like the great Pele, who often use both hands--or feet--regularly while playing the sport.

For other sports, it's clear when the athlete plays which hand is the dominant one. Baseball has what might be the highest percentage of left-handed athletes of all major sports and they are easy to spot when one takes the mound or lines up to hit. Babe Ruth is perhaps the best left-handed athlete ever but is joined by many other legendary baseball lefties such as Ty Cobb, Shoeless Joe Jackson and Barry Bonds.

Tennis, boxing and golf are other sports that let left-handed athletes shine. It's easy to spot left-handed tennis players like Monica Seles and John McEnroe, left-handed boxers like Oscar de la Hoya and left-handed golfers like the great Phil Mickelson.

Left-handed people may make up only around 10% of the population but clearly left-handed people are some of the top athletes of all time. We'll never know if Deion Sanders would have seen the success he did had he been right handed or if Rafael Nadal would have ever become the King of Clay as a righty but these talented athletes all persevered through their disadvantages to become legends and we have nothing but respect for them for that.
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Rank     Name
  1. 1
    Up 150
    Down 32
    1895
  2. 2
    Up 103
    Down 21
    1903
  3. 3
    Up 93
    Down 31
    1940
  4. 4
    Up 91
    Down 29
    1886
  5. 5
    Up 146
    Down 28
    1934
  6. 6
    Up 59
    Down 22
    1978
  7. 7
    Up 66
    Down 31
    1986
  8. 8
    Up 51
    Down 22
    1887
  9. 9
    Up 93
    Down 26
    1935
  10. 10
    Up 75
    Down 16
    1961
  11. 11
    Up 56
    Down 30
    1970
  12. 12
    Up 96
    Down 29
    1969
  13. 13
    Up 80
    Down 25
    1920
  14. 14
    Up 77
    Down 25
    1961
  15. 15
    Up 70
    Down 24
    1963
  16. 16
    Up 69
    Down 24
    1944
  17. 17
    Up 59
    Down 27
    1946
  18. 18
    Up 53
    Down 24
    1960
  19. 19
    Up 48
    Down 21
    1958
  20. 20
    Up 38
    Down 14
    1921
  21. 21
    Up 43
    Down 22
    1954
  22. 22
    Up 53
    Down 34
    1967
  23. 23
    Up 45
    Down 22
    1956
  24. 24
    Up 38
    Down 22
    1942
  25. 25
    Up 24
    Down 10
    1939
  26. 26
    Up 24
    Down 16
    1900
  27. 27
    Up 28
    Down 17
    1961
  28. 28
    Up 41
    Down 36
    1964
  29. 29
    Up 20
    Down 13
    1943
  30. 30
    Up 27
    Down 22
    1944
  31. 31
    Up 23
    Down 15
    1966
  32. 32
    Up 27
    Down 24
    1945
  33. 33
    Up 25
    Down 15

    Ron Guidry

    1950
  34. 34
    Up 25
    Down 15
    1903
  35. 35
    Up 23
    Down 18
    1965
  36. 36
    Up 23
    Down 21
    1909
  37. 37
    Up 49
    Down 23
    1959
  38. 38
    Up 16
    Down 14
    No image

    Tim Tebow

  39. 39
    Up 16
    Down 15
    1945
  40. 40
    Up 19
    Down 14
    1960
  41. 41
    Up 36
    Down 34
    1980
  42. 42
    Up 22
    Down 18
    1973
  43. 43
    Up 22
    Down 20
    1972
  44. 44
    Up 25
    Down 22
    1949
  45. 45
    Up 22
    Down 18

    Vida Blue

    1949
  46. 46
    Up 12
    Down 1
    No image

    Wayne Gretzky

  47. 47
    Up 18
    Down 19
    1978
  48. 48
    Up 12
    Down 13
    1929
  49. 49
    Up 22
    Down 21
    1977
  50. 50
    Up 36
    Down 21
    1952
  51. +Add New Item

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