DAILY DIRT: Babe, da Vinci, Jimi lead our list of most famous lefties

Daily Dirt for Monday, April 14, 2025

But if you’re a righty, you’ll likely live longer … Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 1,256 of The Daily Dirt.

1. Only about 10 percent of the world’s population is left-handed, and that includes celebrities.

But even though left-handers are relatively few and far between, some of our most notable figures throughout history have contributed to the betterment of mankind from the southpaw side of life.

Here’s The Daily Dirt’s five most important lefties:

1. Babe Ruth: No, I’m not kidding. I think it’s safe to say more people in the world, over the course of the past 100 years have likely been more familiar with the name of Babe Ruth than (almost) any other living human being. The Bambino transcends time and nationalities. Most famous for: Hitting home runs. Lots of them.

2. Leonardo da Vinci: Though there’s some argument over whether Leonardo da Vinci, arguably the world’s most famous polymath (that’s someone who excels or demonstrates creative ability in multiple disciplines) was exclusively a lefty or actually ambidextrous, his peers referred to him by the term “mancino,” which is Italian slang for a left-hander. Da Vinci was also known for a unique style of taking notes, referred to as “mirror writing,” in which he wrote from right to left. His left-handedness also now plays a key role in authenticating his drawings, as experts often look for signs of left-handed strokes and slants in order to confirm whether a piece is a genuine Leonardo da Vinci work. Most famous for: Paintings like the “Mona Lisa” and “The Last Supper”. He had quite a way with a paint brush.

3. Jimi Hendrix: Revered as one of the greatest guitar virtuosos in rock history, Hendrix made the unique choice to play a right-handed guitar upside down in order to accommodate his left-handed styles (although he also performed some tasks with his right hand). Most famous for: “Purple Haze” and “Foxy Lady,” plus his legendary performance at Woodstock.

4. Marie Curie: A Nobel Prize winner, Curie helped to discover the principles of radioactivity and was the matriarch of a family full of lefty scientists. Her husband, Pierre, and daughter, Irene, also possessed the trait. Left-handedness is surprisingly common among well-known scientists, even outside of the Curie family — Sir Isaac Newton and computer scientist Alan Turing were southpaws, too. Most famous for: She’s the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different scientific fields: physics and chemistry.

5. Buzz Aldrin: “When Edwin E. ‘Buzz’ Aldrin, Jr. walked on the surface of the moon during the Apollo 11 lunar mission in 1969, it was one small step for man … and one giant leap for lefties,” reported Jennifer C. Martin for cbsnews.com in 2022. Interestingly, Aldrin changed to a right-hander later in life. Most famous for: Being the second person to walk on the moon.

Honorable mention: Paul McCartney, Sandy Koufax, Oprah Winfrey, Michaelangelo, LeBron James, Larry Bird, Lady Gaga, eight U.S. presidents (including Barack Obama, George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan), Bill Gates, Morgan Freeman, Jerry Seinfeld.

Special mention: Ned Flanders from “The Simpsons,” who runs a store, “The “Leftorum,” which caters to left-handed people.

2. Did you know (Part 332)

That a study published in the 1980s showed that right-handers, on average, live to be nine years older than left-handers. That’s not good news for JRG and David Adam.

That the highest rates of left-handedness can be found in North America, Australia, New Zealand and western Europe. Whereas the lowest rates are found in Asia, Africa and South America.

That if you’re left-handed and visiting places like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal and the Middle East, it’s thought of as rude behavior to eat, pick up or hand over things with your left hand.

That Bart Simpson is left-handed.

That the most left-handed of animals might be kangaroos, which tend to favor their left paw for things like grooming and eating. Also, studies have shown that 90 percent of parrots use their left foot to pick things up.

3. OK, baseball fans, here’s this week’s food for thought

Since the start of the 2024 MLB season, here are the ERA leaders:

• Hunter Greene, Cincinnati, 2.48
• Tarik Skubal, Detroit, 2.50 (lefty!)
• Zack Wheeler, 2.73
• Chris Sale, Atlanta, 2.79 (also a lefty!)
• Framber Valdez, 2.87 (and yet another lefty!)

Steve Thought O’ The Day — Raise your hand (presumably, your left hand) if you know that Aug. 13 is International Left-Handers Day.

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. Other noted left-handers include MRN’s David Adam and J. Robert Gough.