Baseball Shorts: Portsider

In today’s very short episode of “Baseball Shorts,” we pay attention to the term “portside.” What does it mean and where does it come from? Read on and learn.

Portsider is a rather uncommon term in baseball. The word is used for a left handed pitcher, a.k.a. southpaw.

But where does the term come from?

Well, the term is a nautical one. In the old days, when the ships had the rudder on the starboard side, ships docked on the left side of the ship to protect the rudder. After ships got the rudder at the stern, the term port side stuck.