I have a hunch that if Earl had been a right-hander, he would have done just as well. There was a very short period of time that the lefties dominated the pba tour (due to lane maintenance issues, I believe...), but they were almost completely shut out after that - for quite a while. Often, Earl would be the only lefty in the top 8-10 of a tournament - when during the period of "lefty heaven", the top 16 would ALL be lefties.
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Bowlers are like puppies. The only difference is that someday the puppy will quit whining.
-- Found at Sam's Town Pro Shop

Saying they shut out the lefties is probably inaccurate.

They tried to make both sides even.

When you had 16 lefties on tour and 15 would make the finals every week it was out of kilter.

Some of the average discrepancy could be shown in that Earl went out on tour and failed miserably. He went back home and worked on this game for several years and then went back out. His reentry on the tour coincided with the period when lefties dominated. I believe he was close to 30 by the time he started doing well.

Walter Ray went out young and stayed out. His first 4 or 5 years was a learning experience as well. I would imagine if you took his average since 1986 it would be 5 pins higher.

Earl was easily the best of the left handed bowlers at that time but when the shot favored the left he had only 15 to 20 bowlers and 10 guys that realistically had a chance to win.

When it favors the right hand side, Walter still has had to beat 100+ most of his career and 40+ guys that realistically had a chance to win.

I remember always checking the Sun Times for the leader board by round and see Earl on many occasions being the only lefty in the top 24 and on top of that, he also led the field.  

I also heard when they tried to shut the lefties out but Earl still found a way to make the cut and cash.  One story was bouncing a basketball down the left side of the lanes with STP on it.  

Nothing taken away from Walter Ray as to me he has also shown his skill prevailing over righthanders.  He's made the show when the cranker shot is there, the tweener shot and when the fluff shot is there.  But imagine if he were the only righty in the top 24 while all the other 23 were lefties, now that would be an interesting feat.  I'm leaning a little towards Anthony but neither would stand up against a hit from Earl Campbell.

Rick

People forget: Anthony won with rubber, plastic, urethane and, to some extent, reactive equipment (he bowled a few senior tournaments).  Anthony quit because he was bored and could make more with less work running his businesses and making appearances.  Had he continued bowling for say another 7 or 8 years, this topic would not be here.  

Anthony won from all sorts of angles, often as the only lefty in the top 24.  He had phenomenal hand-eye coordination and inhuman powers of concentration (he used to visualize an entire set before bowling it).  WRW is 1A and the finest righthander ever.  Anthony, well, he is the gold standard.
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"I don't mind if you don't like my manners. I don't like them myself. They're pretty bad. I grieve over them on long winter evenings."

And what Earl and Walter Ray have in common is ACCURACY.  --  JohnP