Frank "Lefty" O'Doul is the greatest eligible position player not in the Hall of Fame. Over 970 games (30 shy of the 1,000 used for official records) from 1919 to 1934, Lefty averaged .349, winning two batting championships and setting the NL record for most hits in a season, which still stands. Not in any way a "homer" like Chuck Klein (whose numbers were greatly aided by playing in a small park in Philly), Lefty hit .352 at home and .347 on the road, proving he belongs among the elite hitters in history. After his days in the majors ended, he returned to the Pacific Coast League, where he was the longtime manager of the San Francisco Seals and later the San Diego and Seattle teams. Lefty was instrumental in organizing Japanese pro baseball, whose premiere team, the Giants, was named in his honor. Lefty is one of only 3 Americans in the Japanese baseball hall of fame. He is also one of the few players to have played for the Yankees, Dodgers and Giants while all 3 were in New York City. Lefty died on December 7, 1969. His epitaph reads "He was here at a good time and had a good time while he was here."
My favorite Lefty piece, a 1949 Sommer & Kaufmann card signed by Lefty:
PSA pop on the card is "0", BTW.
In this postcard, produced by the Mainichi Sports newspaper, Joe DiMaggio and Lefty O'Doul are posed with Japan Baseball superstar and Hall of Famer, Kaoru Betto in a photo taken during the U.S. All Stars' Tour of Japan in 1951
Studio publicity photograph showing Lefty instructing Gary Cooper on how to swing a bat left-handed for the movie "Pride of the Yankees".
He said Cooper played like an old lady and ultimately they ended up shooting the action sequences with Cooper batting righty and running to third base.
07-19-2024, 01:16 PM
Lefty!
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