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There may be no more sure-fire way to remain in Major League Baseball than to be an effective left-handed pitcher. A southpaw is practically worth his weight in gold, whether he just throws the ball so hard that hitters can’t catch up to it, or he’s a bit more crafty and keeps hitters off-balance, inducing soft contact. Pitchers like Jamie Moyer, Tommy John, and Kenny Rogers likely had longer careers as left-handers than they would have had if they were right-handers. And it’s not just starting pitchers. The top-3 in career games pitched are lefties Jesse Orosco, Mike Stanton, and John Franco, who had five career starts combined out of more than 3,500 games pitched. Only 10% of the general population is left-handed, but the numbers suggest that among all-time greats, left-handedness is a bit more common. The 10th-greatest lefty and the 46th-greatest righty have the same career WAR, which means that among the greatest 56 pitchers according to WAR, 17.8% are left-handed. More than we would think. Here are the top ten, presented alphabetically.

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