Reversible baseball

Reversible baseball was a variant of baseball invented by former major leaguer Carl Zamloch, who was at the time baseball coach at the University of California. It was also called left-handed baseball.

In this variant, a batter may decide to run to either first or third base when the ball is put in play, introducing an element of uncertainty and forcing the defense to be more alert. If the batter-runner successfully reaches base, the inning continues using the same direction of running the bases, but whenever the bases are empty, the option to run them in normal or reverse order comes into play again.

Zamloch, who was a born entertainer, devised this game because he felt that baseball had become a bit too staid and boring. He did manage to organize some high-level games using his rules, including a game on February 15, 1928, between his University of California team and a top local semi-pro team, the Ambrose Tailors. The game was well attended and received a lot of publicity, but professional teams who played against the Golden Bears after that refused to use the alternative rules, and "reversible baseball" became a footnote of history.

Further Reading

• Dan Schoenholz: "Third Things First: Carl Zamloch and the Brief History of Reversible Baseball", in Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Vol. 50, Nr. 1 (Spring 2021), pp. 76-79.