What Major League Batters batted cross-handed?

Answer 1

There have been a number of major league players who batted cross-handed early in their career, but nearly all changed to the conventional grip before playing in the Major Leagues. Cross-handed hitting was more common in the late 1800s and there were more players that started hitting cross-handed then. Ezra Sutton, Frankie Frisch, Sherry Magee, and Christy Mathewson were all major league players from the early days of Baseball who hit cross-handed early in their career. Ezra Sutton hit cross-handed for at-least part of his first major league season. Frankie Frisch was a switch hitter and there are baseball cards showing him hitting left-handed with a conventional grip and right-handed with a cross-handed grip.

Latter players who hit cross-handed included baseball greats Mickey Mantle and Hank Aaron. Mickey Mantle switched to a conventional grip while still young through (12 years old). Hank Aaron switched to a conventional grip during his first season in the minor leagues (1953) so he also never hit cross-handed in the Major League (first season with the Milwaukee Braves was 1954). In 1952, Hank led the Negro League with a batting average of .467 while hitting cross-handed though.