Best Left-Handed Athletes of All Time
Ninety percent of the population is right-handed. That leaves just 10 percent as left-handed. According to research, a person becomes left-handed due to a combination of genetics, biology and the environment. And in sports, being left-handed has its advantages.
First, many opponents are used to playing, guarding or defending someone who isn’t left-handed. For competitions that rely on aiming and accuracy, like baseball, tennis or boxing, being a lefty is favorable since fewer lefty athletes are in those sports.
Some athletes shift to being a southpaw early in their careers for the advantages that come with being left-handed. One estimate even has the percentage of lefties in baseball being around 30 percent, which is three times the national average.
We’ve found the best lefties throughout sports, from baseball to basketball to golf and many more. Most of these athletes are natural southpaws. Some made the switch due to those advantages. So even though Aug. 13 is International Left-Handers Day, let's celebrate these southpaws any day.
Here are the best left-handed athletes of all time.
Note: All stats are through Jan. 7, 2020.
25. Vasyl Lomachenko
Sport: Boxing
Country: Ukraine
Birthdate: Feb. 17, 1988
Key stats: 14-1 (10 KO). 396-1 amateur record. Two-time Olympic gold medalist.
Bottom line: Just a few years ago, Vasyl Lomachenko was a virtual unknown to even diehard boxing fans, but his meteoric rise has been nothing short of amazing.
Many consider him to be the greatest amateur boxer of all time, and his sterling record and two Olympic gold medals back up that claim. He then made history by winning a major title in just his third pro fight, won a title in a second weight division in his seventh pro fight and won a title in his third weight division in his 12th pro fight. All three of those are records for the fewest fights needed to reach each threshold.
As for the one blemish on Lomachenko’s pro record, it deserves an asterisk because the fighter he lost to didn’t make weight for their fight. Orlando Salido won via split decision against Lomachenko but weighed over the featherweight limit and was stripped of the WBO featherweight title.
24. Tim Tebow
Sport: Football
Country: United States
Birthdate: Aug. 14, 1987
Key stats: 2007 Heisman winner. Two-time national champion. 2,422 career passing yards.
Bottom line: In terms of pro careers, Tim Tebow is the worst athlete on this list. But in terms of amateur careers, it’s hard to argue that anyone is better.
Tebow was the best high school player in the country and then became the best college player in the country. He won one Heisman and finished in the top five in voting two other times while also claiming two national championships.
Tebow’s NFL career was a flop. His minor league baseball career hasn’t been much better. But take his full body of work, and Tim Tebow is in elite company as a southpaw athlete.
23. Manu Ginobili
Sport: Basketball
Country: Argentina
Birthdate: July 28, 1977
Key stats: Four-time NBA champion. EuroLeague champion. Two-time Italian league MVP.
Bottom line: Manu Ginobili is the greatest international southpaw in NBA history.
His left hand was never more valuable than during a 2009 game against the Kings. A bat made its way into AT&T Center, where it flew around for a couple of minutes until Ginobili swatted it down with his dominant hand. The San Antonio crowd erupted with applause for Ginobili, who later needed to be vaccinated against rabies.
Besides those histrionics, Ginobili patented the Euro step move in the NBA, and since he was a lefty dribbler, his lead foot was opposite what most players were used to.
He retired in 2018 with four NBA championships, the most for any international NBA player.
22. Michael Vick
Sport: Football
Country: United States
Birthdate: June 26, 1980
Key stats: 6,109 career rushing yards. 22,464 career passing yards. Four-time Pro Bowler.
Bottom line: This list is about the best left-handed athletes, and in terms of pure athletic ability, no one can top Michael Vick.
Before Lamar Jackson, Vick was the greatest athlete the quarterback position had ever seen, and "The Michael Vick Experience" was more than just a commercial. Watching Vick scramble was an experience in itself.
And it wasn’t just his running ability that was special. Vick had the infamous "Vick Flick," where just a flick of that left wrist could sail the ball 60 yards.
His career wasn’t as good as it could have been due to off-the-field reasons, but Vick still remains one of the most iconic players of his era.
21. Marvin Hagler
Sport: Boxing
Country: United States
Birthdate: May 23, 1954
Key stats: 62-3-2 (52 KO). Undisputed middleweight champion. 1980s Fighter of the Decade.
Bottom line: A natural southpaw, Marvin Hagler was one of the greatest punchers in boxing history. His heavy left hand allowed him to have a knockout percentage of 78 percent, the highest ever for an undisputed middleweight champion.
For seven years in the 1980s, Hagler defeated all challengers to his middleweight title, including Hall of Famers Thomas "Hitman" Hearns and Roberto Duran. Hagler's fight with Hearns was dubbed "The War" and is considered one of the greatest fights in boxing history.
Despite lasting just three rounds, the two threw haymaker after haymaker in an action-packed fight before Hagler floored Hearns with two uppercuts.
20. Warren Spahn
Sport: Baseball
Country: United States
Birthdate: April 23, 1921
Died: November 24, 2003
Key stats: 363-245 record. 17-time MLB All-Star. Eight-time NL wins leader.
Bottom line: There have been nearly 20,000 players in MLB history, and no lefty has won more games than Warren Spahn’s 363.
Despite getting a late start to his career due to serving in World War II, Spahn had a reign of brilliance that was nearly unmatched, winning 21 games as a 26-year-old and won 23 games as a 42-year-old.
But Spahn was more than just a great pitcher. He was a great baseball player. He smacked 35 home runs in his career, the second-most ever by a pitcher and more than Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith.
19. Ronda Rousey
Sport: Mixed Martial Arts/Wrestling
Country: United States
Birthdate: Feb. 1, 1987
Key stats: Olympic medalist in judo. One-time UFC women’s bantamweight champion. One-time WWE Raw women’s champion.
Bottom line: Ronda Rousey's southpaw tendencies are most apparent throughout her various combat sports careers of judo, mixed martial arts and pro wrestling.
She fought in a left-handed judoka stance as that is the norm, even for righties, in the sport of judo. When she transitioned into MMA, she talked about looking forward to facing lefties as that was her style and what she was comfortable with.
That stance, and God-given ability, led her to reach the highest of heights in all three sports she participated in.
18. Conor McGregor
Sport: Mixed Martial Arts
Country: Ireland
Birthdate: July 14, 1988
Key stats: 21-4 record. One-time UFC featherweight champion. One-time UFC lightweight champion.
Bottom line: As a striker who prefers to fight while standing up, Conor McGregor uses his southpaw stance and left hand to deliver most of the damage. Of his 18 victories via knockout, 17 of them have come via punches or one single punch with the other being via elbows.
McGregor’s most infamous knockout came courtesy of his left hand when he KO’d Jose Aldo at UFC 194. Aldo lunged forward when McGregor met his face with a left hook sending him to the canvas. Two hammer fists followed before the referee stopped the fight just 13 seconds after it began.
McGregor won the UFC lightweight title in the fight in what is the fastest finish in any title bout in UFC history.
17. Todd Gurley
Sport: Football
Country: United States
Birthdate: Aug. 3, 1994
Key stats: Three-time Pro Bowler. Two-time first-team All-Pro. 2017 Offensive Player of the Year.
Bottom line: If you look closely, you’ll notice that Todd Gurley carries the ball in his left arm roughly 90 percent of the time. Yes, Gurley is a lefty and celebrated #LeftHandersDay on Twitter as he called it "My Day."
Obviously, being a left-handed running back isn’t as noticeable as being a left-handed quarterback, but it does make the defense think a bit differently when playing Gurley just as basketball players have to think differently when defending a lefty.
Defensive players have to position themselves in a different way when attempting to punch the ball from lefty ballcarriers since they are so ordained to just going for the right arm that’s carrying the ball.
16. David Robinson
Sport: Basketball
Country: United States
Birthdate: Aug. 6, 1965
Key stats: 1995 MVP. 1992 Defensive player of the year. Two-time champion.
Bottom line: While there have been nearly 300 lefties in NBA history, there have been just 18 southpaws who were at least seven feet tall. "The Admiral" was the best of the bunch and was the most complete big man in recent NBA history.
He was an MVP, a scoring champion, a Defensive Player of the Year and won two NBA championships. Additionally, the graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy represented his country at every Olympic opportunity by playing in three straight Summer Olympic Games.
By winning bronze in 1988 and gold in both 1992 and 1996, Robinson was the first American basketball player to win three Olympic medals.
15. Randy Johnson
Sport: Baseball
Country: United States
Birthdate: Sept. 10, 1963
Key stats: 303-166 record. 4,875 career strikeouts. Five-time Cy Young winner.
Bottom line: "The Big Unit" was a big nightmare to opposing hitters. His menacing 6-foot-10 frame was only topped by his 102-mph fastball.
Johnson struck out more batters than any southpaw in major league history and was a 10-time All-Star. He also is one of eight southpaws to throw a perfect game in MLB history and is the oldest player, regardless of pitching hand, to throw one as he did so at 40.
As his height might suggest, Johnson was somewhat adept on the hardwood as well and played two years of college basketball at USC.
14. Ken Stabler
Sport: Football
Country: United States
Birthdate: Dec. 25, 1945
Died: July 8, 2015
Key stats: 1974 NFL MVP. Two-time passing touchdowns leader. Four-time Pro Bowler.
Bottom line: While lefties make up approximately 10 percent of the population, representation has been lacking when it comes to left-handed NFL quarterbacks. Less than 1 percent of QBs have been lefties, in part, due to plays usually being designed for righties.
Ken Stabler was one of the first to break the mold, and he was the NFL’s third-ever southpaw quarterback.
He was also the first to win an MVP and the first to lead a team to the Super Bowl as he did with the 1976 Raiders.
13. Stan Musial
Sport: Baseball
Country: United States
Birthdate: Nov. 21, 1920
Died: Jan. 19, 2013
Key stats: .331 lifetime average. 3,630 career hits. 24-time All-Star.
Bottom line: One of the most overlooked great players in MLB history, Stan Musial was a three-time NL MVP in his 22 seasons with the Cardinals.
The consistency of Musial’s career is nearly unmatched. He recorded 1,815 hits at home and 1,815 hits on the road. "Stan the Man" won seven batting titles, is a three-time World Series champion and he ranks in the top 10 all-time in wins above replacement (WAR).
Musial shares a birthday and a birthplace with another great lefty hitter, Ken Griffey Jr, thus making Junior Griffey the second-best lefty to emerge from Donora, Pennsylvania.
12. Phil Mickelson
Sport: Golf
Country: United States
Birthdate: June 16, 1970
Key stats: Five-time majors winner. 44 PGA Tour wins. Inducted into World Golf Hall of Fame.
Bottom line: Naturally right-handed, Phil Mickelson learned to play golf left-handed by mirroring his father’s right-handed swing. After turning pro in 1990, Mickelson earned the nickname of "Lefty" due to there being so few other southpaw golfers on the PGA Tour.
That left-handed swing won him lots of tournaments but no majors until 2004 when he won the Masters and became the third lefty to win a major.
He’s since added four more majors to his collection and is only missing out on the U.S. Open — which he’s finished second in six times — from becoming the sixth man to achieve the Career Grand Slam.
11. Rafael Nadal
Sport: Tennis
Country: Spain
Birthdate: June 3, 1986
Key stats: 980-197 singles record. 84 career titles. Two-time Olympic gold medalist.
Bottom line: Nearly all tennis players have their dominant arms bigger than their other arms, but Rafa Nadal’s discrepancy is very apparent.
He is a natural right-hander, but when he was a young boy his uncle, Toni Nadal, who was a former pro tennis player, encouraged his nephew to start playing lefty for the natural advantages that come with it. Rafa took to his uncle’s teaching and focused his weight training on his left side to increase his power.
The move certainly paid off. Nadal has won 19 Grand Slam singles titles, the second-most ever, and his 12 French Opens is the all-time record for the most singles titles won at a single Grand Slam event.
10. Anderson Silva
Sport: Mixed Martial Arts
Country: Brazil
Birthdate: April 14, 1975
Key stats: 34-10 record. Holds the longest title reign in UFC history (2,457 days). One-time UFC middleweight champion.
Bottom line: Because of his ability on the ground and his adroitness in switching between orthodox and southpaw stances, it's easy to forget that Anderson Silva is left-handed— at least in the octagon. Silva is naturally right-handed but fights as a lefty, which earns him a spot on this list.
He owns the longest win streak in UFC history with 16 straight victories in a streak that lasted seven years. That left hand also has proven valuable in Silva’s record of seven knockouts in UFC title fights.
Silva has won just one of his last eight fights, but his total body of work has many, including Dana White, proclaiming him as the greatest mixed martial artist of all time.
9. Steve Young
Sport: Football
Country: United States
Birthdate: Oct. 11, 1961
Key stats: Two-time NFL MVP. Three-time Super Bowl champion. NFL record six-time leader in passer rating.
Bottom line: If it wasn’t for some patience by his BYU coaches, Steve Young likely wouldn’t be on this list.
In college, he struggled initially in the option offense, so the coaching staff considered switching him to defensive back. But Young improved considerably, which then led to his Hall of Fame pro career, and he was the first lefty quarterback to be enshrined in Canton.
Young was the perfect fit for the West Coast offense that the 49ers ran since it stressed timing and accuracy, qualities that he had in spades. Young was the NFL’s all-time leader in passer rating at the time of his retirement, and he remains the only quarterback in league history with at least 30,000 passing yards and 4,000 rushing yards.
8. James Harden
Sport: Basketball
Country: United States
Birthdate: Aug. 26, 1989
Key stats: 2018 MVP. Two-time scoring champion. Five-time All-NBA first team.
Bottom line: "If I was right-handed," Harden said, "I wouldn’t be where I am today."
Harden is a great player, but even he admits that being a lefty makes him even greater. It gives him an extra layer of uniqueness, which makes it more difficult for defenders, who spend 95 percent of their time guarding right-handed players.
Adding to the complexity of defending Harden is that he’s a ballhandler, so you need to be cognizant of him as both a lefty shooter and a lefty dribbler. Harden is currently second all-time in points scored by a southpaw and should overtake David Robinson during the 2019-20 season.
7. Manny Pacquiao
Sport: Boxing
Country: Philippines
Birthdate: Dec. 17, 1978
Key stats: 62-7-2 (39 KO). Only eight-division world champion. 2000s Fighter of the Decade.
Bottom line: A major part of Manny Pacquiao’s greatness is his success in multiple weight classes.
He is the only eight-division world champion, meaning he’s won major world titles in eight different weight classes. For context, Pacquiao is also the only seven-division world champion and one of just two six-division world champions, along with Oscar De La Hoya.
Pacquiao is considered by many to be the greatest southpaw boxer of all time even though his left hook isn’t his preferred punch, and he’s won via knockout just once in the last 10 years.
However, that left hand has still net him over $500 million in career earnings, second to Floyd Mayweather for most among boxers.
6. Martina Navratilova
Sport: Tennis
Country: Czechoslovakia
Birthdate: Oct. 18, 1956
Key stats: 18 Grand Slam singles titles. 41 Grand Slam doubles titles. Record 74-match win streak.
Bottom line: For nearly six-and-a-half years, Martina Navratilova was atop the tennis world, ranked as the No. 1 singles player for 332 weeks.
Her reign of success is unprecedented. She appeared in the French Open quarterfinals as a 16-year-old and appeared in a Wimbledon final over 20 years later as a 37-year-old. In between, she spent 20 straight years ranked in the top 10 in the world.
While many of her records have been broken by Serena Williams and others, one amazing one remains — in 1984, Navratilova didn’t lose from Jan. 20 to Dec. 6, a streak of 74 matches.
5. Barry Bonds
Sport: Baseball
Country: United States
Birthdate: July 24, 1964
Key stats: MLB-record 762 career home runs. All-time leader in bases on balls. Seven-time NL MVP.
Bottom line: Many left-handed hitters are just taught to hit lefty due to the platoon advantages. But Barry Bonds is a natural lefty and batted and threw with his left hand, unlike his father Bobby Bonds, who was a three-time All-Star as a righty.
The younger Bonds is arguably the greatest baseball player of the last half-century and is baseball's home run king. While most of the focus is on Bonds' home run numbers, he was a five-tool player who stole over 500 bases and won eight Gold Gloves.
He also finished just shy of 3,000 career hits and just under a lifetime .300 average during his 22 years in the big leagues.
4. Bill Russell
Sport: Basketball
Country: United States
Birthdate: Feb. 12, 1934
Key stats: 11-time NBA champion. 5-time MVP. 12-time All-Star.
Bottom line: The greatest winner in American team sports, many forget that Bill Russell was a southpaw because shooting and scoring the ball weren’t his biggest strengths.
While Russell did have a nice lefty hook shot, he used his left hand more often on defense, where he was one of the first players to block a shot and then keep the ball inbounds so his team could regain possession.
Russell has more NBA championship rings (11) than fingers and has the second-most rebounds in NBA history. When he retired in 1969, he ranked first all-time in points by a lefty and would almost assuredly rank first in blocks had the statistic been recorded when Russell played.
3. Lionel Messi
Sport: Soccer
Country: Argentina
Birthdate: June 24, 1987
Key stats: Record six-time Ballon d’Or winner. 715 career goals. Four-time UEFA Champions League winner.
Bottom line: Just as LeBron James writes with his left hand but is right-hand dominant, Lionel Messi writes with his right hand but is left-foot dominant.
He leads with his left foot when dribbling, and while he is also highly skilled as a righty, his power is more apparent when kicking with his left foot.
Although most lefties play on the left side, Messi was moved to the right wing early in his career, which provides an advantage for a southpaw.
Whenever he cuts into the middle of the field from the right side, he’s doing so with his left foot leading the way and can then curl in shots with that foot instead of solely relying on his right foot for crosses.
2. Babe Ruth
Sport: Baseball
Country: United States
Birthdate: Feb. 6, 1895
Died: Aug. 16, 1948
Key stats: 714 career home runs. 12-time AL home run leader. Seven-time World Series champion.
Bottom line: Babe Ruth was arguably the best left-handed pitcher in baseball before moving to the outfield and becoming the best hitter, left or right, of all time.
He led the American League in ERA in 1916, and two years later, he led the league in home runs for the first of 12 times. Ruth’s lefty swing was tailor-made for his home ballparks, the Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium, as both featured short right-field porches.
Although Ruth hasn’t played a game in 85 years, he remains the all-time leader in RBI by a lefty (2,214) while ranking second among southpaws in home runs (714) and third in runs scored (2,174).
1. Wayne Gretzky
Sport: Hockey
Country: Canada
Birthdate: Jan. 26, 1961
Key stats: NHL all-time leading scorer. Nine-time Hart Trophy winner. Four-time Stanley Cup champion.
Bottom line: Wayne Gretzky famously said, "You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take." And it seemed like 100 percent of his shots were left-handed.
"The Great One" was obviously masterful with both hands, but his power lied on his left side so that was the go-to side when he needed some velocity behind the puck.
Even though Gretzky was left-hand dominant when playing hockey, he is a righty when playing golf. He says that when he first learned to play the game at 15, he was given a set of right-handed golf clubs so eschewing his favorite left side was the only option.