Recently, proofreader Jerry Wolper came across a very interesting old story that included a link to a tweet from a website called “Quirky Research.” The tweet included the text: “In the early 1970s, the NFL had an official left-handed night football that could be used by southpaw quarterbacks.”
The attached photo shows an undated newspaper column with the headline “Stabler and Left-Handed Pigskin.” Unfortunately, I don’t know the origin or date of the article, but it reads as if it was from around 1977 or 1978.
Jerry had actually sent it to Paul, who forwarded it to me and called it “Pure Gold.” Here is the text of the article (click to enlarge):
The story centers on then-Raider Ken “The Snake” Stabler, who was a left-handed quarterback at a time when few left-handed players played in the NFL. The column goes on to say that Stabler, more than any other quarterback, “was responsible for inventing left-handed football.” This is, of course, a bit of an exaggeration, as the author notes that both right-handed and left-handed footballs existed, but that their origins go back further than Stabler.
For most readers who weren’t born during the baby boom, this is probably news. A left-handed football, you ask? How exactly is that possible?
As the article notes, in the early days of night football, poor lighting conditions made for – excuse the language – poor play, and the ball was particularly difficult to see. To remedy this problem, the “night ball” was invented. Two different methods to make the ball more visible were to paint white stripes on the brown football or to paint the entire leather itself with white or yellow paint.
However, this introduced a new problem: an unpainted, studded football has a certain texture and feel that helps the quarterback grip. However, painting the stripes of the ball made the leather smooth in those places, which significantly reduced throwing accuracy. The article goes on to explain how this happens, and then turns to one of the innovators who wanted to “solve” the problem of slippery pigskin.
It mentions that 49ers quarterback John Brodie discovered he could get a clean grip on the ball by scraping off part of the white stripe from either side of one of the football’s sides. The ball itself still had enough painted stripes to be visible during (still dimly lit) night games. But Brodie, like most quarterbacks, was right-handed. While his “invention” would be of help to most quarterbacks, it was of no use to those who threw left-handed.
When Ken Stabler became the Raiders’ starter and didn’t seem to perform as well in night games as he was expected to during the day, Raiders owner Al Davis decided to fix the problem by ordering night footballs designed specifically for left-handed players – balls that lacked the painted stripes in the places where the stripes would interfere with a left-handed player’s thumb.
The article goes on to say that these balls would be marked with the letter “L” and “left-handed football” was born.
The article concludes by noting further improvements to the night ball, then notes that its rather rapid demise was not due to the demise of the left-handed quarterback, but to improved stadium lighting that eliminated the need for a striped football. Striped footballs were still produced, but were no longer required. Night games were henceforth played with a stripeless ball, the same one used for day games.
So that is the story of “left-handed football”. It was not Really a left-handed football in the literal sense, but merely one that is specially striped to make it easier for left-handed players to grip the ball. And of course the same is true of the “right-handed football,” which was designed with the stripes in a place that made it easier for right-handed players to throw. And since most quarterbacks were right-handed, this pattern became the de facto ball of the night game. It wasn’t until Al Davis got involved that balls that were specially striped for left-handed players – or rather Ken Stabler – became the norm. The final marking with the letter “L” gave rise to the “left-handed football.”
So yes, there once was a “left-handed football” and now you know how it came about!
(Special thanks to Paul for bringing this to my attention. – PH)
