southpaw

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The Word of the Day for June 8 is:

southpaw   \SOUTH-paw\   noun
     : left-hander; especially : a left-handed baseball pitcher

Example sentence:
     With the tying run on second, the manager decided to bring 
out his best southpaw from the bullpen to face the next two left-
handed batters.

Did you know?
     "Southpaw" is of obscure origin. A popular theory holds 
that it comes from the onetime position of ballparks in relation 
to the sun. Supposedly, late 19th-century ballparks were laid 
out so that the pitcher looked in a westerly direction when 
facing the batter. The throwing arm of a left-handed pitcher 
would then be to the south -- hence the name "southpaw." This 
theory of its origin is undermined, however, by the fact that 
the original use of "southpaw" does not involve baseball at all. 
Rather, the term was used as early as 1848 to describe, simply, 
the left hand or a punch or blow given with the left hand. 
Today, we often use "southpaw" as a good-natured term for a left-
handed person, but the word is sometimes viewed as stigmatizing 
by left-handed people.