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Lefty O'Doul: Baseball's Forgotten Ambassador
From San Francisco to the Ginza in Tokyo, Lefty O’Doul relates the untold story of one of baseball’s greatest hitters, most colorful characters, and the unofficial father of professional baseball in Japan. Lefty O’Doul (1897–1969) began his career on the sandlots of San Francisco and was drafted by the Yankees as a pitcher. Although an arm injury and his refusal to give up the mound clouded his first four years, he converted into an outfielder. After four Minor League seasons he returned to the Major Leagues to become one of the game’s most prolific power hitters, retiring with the fourth-highest lifetime batting average in Major League history. A self-taught “scientific” hitter, O’Doul then became the game’s preeminent hitting instructor, counting Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams among his top disciples.
In 1931 O’Doul traveled to Japan with an All-Star team and later convinced Babe Ruth to headline a 1934 tour. By helping to establish the professional game in Japan, he paved the way for Hideo Nomo, Ichiro Suzuki, and Hideki Matsui to play in the American Major Leagues. O’Doul’s finest moment came in 1949 when General Douglas MacArthur asked him to bring a baseball team to Japan, a tour that MacArthur later praised as one of the greatest diplomatic efforts in U.S. history. O’Doul became one the most successful managers in the Pacific Coast League and was instrumental in spreading baseball’s growth and popularity in Japan. He is still beloved in Japan, where in 2002 he was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. This edition features a new epilogue by the author.
In 1931 O’Doul traveled to Japan with an All-Star team and later convinced Babe Ruth to headline a 1934 tour. By helping to establish the professional game in Japan, he paved the way for Hideo Nomo, Ichiro Suzuki, and Hideki Matsui to play in the American Major Leagues. O’Doul’s finest moment came in 1949 when General Douglas MacArthur asked him to bring a baseball team to Japan, a tour that MacArthur later praised as one of the greatest diplomatic efforts in U.S. history. O’Doul became one the most successful managers in the Pacific Coast League and was instrumental in spreading baseball’s growth and popularity in Japan. He is still beloved in Japan, where in 2002 he was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. This edition features a new epilogue by the author.
398 pages, Paperback
Published April 1, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 16, 2023
A fantastic book about a forgotten legend…I found the constant “leapfrogging” a little disorienting, as chapter by chapter started with a few pages of the trips to Japan and then went back in time. But overall, the sheer amount of information and the passion about Lefty O’Doul’s contribution to baseball in the US and Japan and his legacy in terms of brotherhood and mutual respect in overwhelming.
My question is, Why is this book not subtitled “Baseball’s ambassador to Japan”? It is patently NOT true that people in Japan remember him. He died over half a century ago. He may be in the Japan NPB Hall of Fame, but he has also been forgotten here. Simply by adding the word “Japan” to the title would rekindle interest in someone who was clearly key to revitalizing the friendship between the US and Japan after a devastating and pointless conflict. If this were translated into Japanese, I’m positive it would be an instant bestseller.
My question is, Why is this book not subtitled “Baseball’s ambassador to Japan”? It is patently NOT true that people in Japan remember him. He died over half a century ago. He may be in the Japan NPB Hall of Fame, but he has also been forgotten here. Simply by adding the word “Japan” to the title would rekindle interest in someone who was clearly key to revitalizing the friendship between the US and Japan after a devastating and pointless conflict. If this were translated into Japanese, I’m positive it would be an instant bestseller.
November 17, 2018
Lefty O'Doul is a ballplayer I knew very little about the San Francisco legend prior to reading Dennis Snelling's biography. It's a well-written and comprehensive telling of a life in baseball and it shed light upon O'Doul's dedication to the game in San Francisco and Japan. Recommended for baseball fans.
August 10, 2020
A decent book on Lefty O'Doul, who is very popular in San Francisco, where I currently live. I miss going to his old restaurants/bars before COVID and wish I had read earlier when they were still open. O'Doul was a good player and had two awesome years, and he is very instrumental with Japan baseball. But I feel too much of this book I just wasn't interested in. Written well and researched well, but in reality O'Doul didn't play in MLB that long and that is what I was interested in. More than half the book is on his time after he is finished playing in the big leagues and a larger portion is of his time in Japan or managing in the Pacific Coast League. Still a good read though.
May 7, 2017
Francis “Lefty” O’Doul can be considered a rarity in baseball – while he was an outstanding major league player, retiring with the fourth-highest career batting average in history, it was his work in the minor leagues and in Japan where he truly made a difference in the game. The story of his life in and out of baseball is told in this biography by Dennis Snelling.
O’Doul was raised in the Butchertown section of San Francisco, a tough neighborhood which got its name from the proliferation of butchers and slaughterhouses in the area. O’Doul was destined to follow his father into that business until he was encouraged to use his athletic gifts by his teacher Rose Stolz. It was uncommon for women to be coaching sports at that time in the early 20th century, but she was his coach and O’Doul gave her credit for teaching him the game and mentoring him early in his athletic career.
His career started with the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League , which at (PCL)the time was considered close to the equal of the Major Leagues and the highest level of baseball played west of the Mississippi. O’Doul was playing the outfield and pitching, eventually gaining a spot on the New York Yankees, but not succeeding in either position. He set a record during that brief time that still has not been broken – he gave up 13 runs in one inning, the most allowed by a single pitcher in one inning. He was convinced to give up pitching during another stint with the Seals, and this time it proved to be better when he played for the New York Giants, becoming a prolific hitter including a season in which he hit .398 in 1929.
However, despite this success, where O’Doul left his mark in the game was with his coaching and managing, which he did for a few decades for the Seals and San Diego in the PCL. One of his prize pupils was Joe DiMaggio, who gives O’Doul much credit for his success. They stayed friends long after both of their careers were over.
The book’s format has each chapter start with an excerpt describing O’Doul’s biggest accomplishment, and that was the 1949 series of exhibition games between a team of Major League all-stars and Japanese teams played in Japan. This exhibition was notable for several reasons – the countries still had some bitter feelings so soon after World War II, the American players were treated like royalty by the Japanese fans, and General Douglas MacArthur even attended games. O’Doul worked tirelessly to promote the game in Japan, having made several trips there and was in attendance when Masanori Murakami became the first Japanese player to play in the Major Leagues in 1964.
Given the variances in topics in which to write about O’Doul, I felt that Mr. Snelling did a very good job of piecing all of these aspects of the career of O’Doul and wrote a book that is not only easy to follow with all of these pieces, but is also informative enough that the reader will finish it believing that he or she knows a lot about O’Doul. That was the case for me as I had not known much about the man’s career and certainly not that he was a true ambassador for the game in Japan. After reading this book, I believe that Lefty O’Doul’s story is one that anyone interested in the game’s history, whether in the United States or in Japan, is one that should be read.
I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...
O’Doul was raised in the Butchertown section of San Francisco, a tough neighborhood which got its name from the proliferation of butchers and slaughterhouses in the area. O’Doul was destined to follow his father into that business until he was encouraged to use his athletic gifts by his teacher Rose Stolz. It was uncommon for women to be coaching sports at that time in the early 20th century, but she was his coach and O’Doul gave her credit for teaching him the game and mentoring him early in his athletic career.
His career started with the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League , which at (PCL)the time was considered close to the equal of the Major Leagues and the highest level of baseball played west of the Mississippi. O’Doul was playing the outfield and pitching, eventually gaining a spot on the New York Yankees, but not succeeding in either position. He set a record during that brief time that still has not been broken – he gave up 13 runs in one inning, the most allowed by a single pitcher in one inning. He was convinced to give up pitching during another stint with the Seals, and this time it proved to be better when he played for the New York Giants, becoming a prolific hitter including a season in which he hit .398 in 1929.
However, despite this success, where O’Doul left his mark in the game was with his coaching and managing, which he did for a few decades for the Seals and San Diego in the PCL. One of his prize pupils was Joe DiMaggio, who gives O’Doul much credit for his success. They stayed friends long after both of their careers were over.
The book’s format has each chapter start with an excerpt describing O’Doul’s biggest accomplishment, and that was the 1949 series of exhibition games between a team of Major League all-stars and Japanese teams played in Japan. This exhibition was notable for several reasons – the countries still had some bitter feelings so soon after World War II, the American players were treated like royalty by the Japanese fans, and General Douglas MacArthur even attended games. O’Doul worked tirelessly to promote the game in Japan, having made several trips there and was in attendance when Masanori Murakami became the first Japanese player to play in the Major Leagues in 1964.
Given the variances in topics in which to write about O’Doul, I felt that Mr. Snelling did a very good job of piecing all of these aspects of the career of O’Doul and wrote a book that is not only easy to follow with all of these pieces, but is also informative enough that the reader will finish it believing that he or she knows a lot about O’Doul. That was the case for me as I had not known much about the man’s career and certainly not that he was a true ambassador for the game in Japan. After reading this book, I believe that Lefty O’Doul’s story is one that anyone interested in the game’s history, whether in the United States or in Japan, is one that should be read.
I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...
August 22, 2017
This is an engaging, well-written biography. While I had certainly heard of Lefty O'Doul (and was surprised he is not in baseball's Hall of Fame), I was not aware of his role in promoting baseball in Japan. Moreover, I had no idea what an important figure he was in San Francisco. The baseball history is fascinating especially the insights into the Pacific Coast League -- a specialty of this author. My only real critique was the structure of the narrative. The bouncing back and forth between the main narrative and the history of O'Doul's involvement in Japan become confusing especially as the timelines converge. Despite that, I found this an enjoyable read and would recommend it to those interested in baseball history and perhaps, the history of San Francisco in the 20th century.
March 22, 2018
As I gathered from having visited his now-shuttered restaurant in San Francisco several years ago, Lefty O'Doul is a local legend. Outside the Bay Area, however, few who are not astute students of baseball history know who he is anymore, since he passed in 1969. The book's subtitle -- baseball's "forgotten" ambassador -- is thus sadly accurate. Indeed, the author makes a strong case as to his significance, from his late-blooming playing career as an unlikely batting champion, to his later career as a coach, hitting instructor, and shaper and discoverer of talent. The author places a particular emphasis on Lefty's vital role in the orchestration of both pre- and post-World War II exchanges with Japan, spreading baseball to Far East as a sort of peacemaker and spirit-lifter. He was a gregarious politician and a shrewd, but superstitious scientist in the art of hitting, and you get the impression his accomplishments arose not from sheer dumb luck, but from refining his craft and making it happen. Clearly, this book exhibits the same sort of machinations on the part of the author in bringing his life to light.
The narrative structure, however, is not the easiest to follow. The first half of the book is chronological, following his childhood in Butchertown through the ups and downs of his experiences in and out of the Major Leagues. However, after Lefty returns to the West Coast as a player-manager in 1935, the book becomes more topical and episodic. This sudden non-linearness muddles the reader's ability to keep track of when and where they are, what with all the names being thrown around (many of which are foreign) and events being circled back to. To illustrate: the author devotes several pages to the development of Joe DiMaggio with the San Francisco Seals before joining the Yankees in 1936, then talks about subsequent disciples of Lefty's teaching through the early 1950's, then devotes a chapter to Lefty's managerial experiences between 1935 and 1945, then jumps back to the 1935 barnstorming tour of a Japanese club in the US that includes appearances from DiMaggio (still with the Seals), then talks about World War II, and then finally picks up again in 1946. What's more, the author has chosen to devote the first few pages of nearly every chapter to re-creating Lefty's 1949 goodwill tour of Japan with the Seals -- the first one of its kind since before Pearl Harbor, he claims. Although the latter device of weaving in specifics of one event throughout a larger narrative is not novel and can often be an effective means of historical storytelling (see Jane Leavy's bio on Sandy Koufax or Buster Olney's Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty), that device slows down the narrative considerably here and serves as a further impediment to a reader already having trouble orienting time and place. Ultimately, though, this imperfect tale of a figure slowly fading from the public consciousness is one worth remembering. 3***1/2
The narrative structure, however, is not the easiest to follow. The first half of the book is chronological, following his childhood in Butchertown through the ups and downs of his experiences in and out of the Major Leagues. However, after Lefty returns to the West Coast as a player-manager in 1935, the book becomes more topical and episodic. This sudden non-linearness muddles the reader's ability to keep track of when and where they are, what with all the names being thrown around (many of which are foreign) and events being circled back to. To illustrate: the author devotes several pages to the development of Joe DiMaggio with the San Francisco Seals before joining the Yankees in 1936, then talks about subsequent disciples of Lefty's teaching through the early 1950's, then devotes a chapter to Lefty's managerial experiences between 1935 and 1945, then jumps back to the 1935 barnstorming tour of a Japanese club in the US that includes appearances from DiMaggio (still with the Seals), then talks about World War II, and then finally picks up again in 1946. What's more, the author has chosen to devote the first few pages of nearly every chapter to re-creating Lefty's 1949 goodwill tour of Japan with the Seals -- the first one of its kind since before Pearl Harbor, he claims. Although the latter device of weaving in specifics of one event throughout a larger narrative is not novel and can often be an effective means of historical storytelling (see Jane Leavy's bio on Sandy Koufax or Buster Olney's Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty), that device slows down the narrative considerably here and serves as a further impediment to a reader already having trouble orienting time and place. Ultimately, though, this imperfect tale of a figure slowly fading from the public consciousness is one worth remembering. 3***1/2
June 8, 2018
There is no doubt that Lefty O'Doul is an important figure in the history of major league baseball. Not only was he one of the game's greatest hitters, but he also built a legacy of coaching and diplomacy (mainly involving Japan) that is nearly unrivaled. His is a story, though, that is very difficult to put down on the printed page in any sort of captivating fashion, as it lacks a central narrative to ponder or peruse.
The hallmark of O'Doul's career is that he was able to stick around for so long and serve the game in such a broad capacity. As Snelling's book covers, he turned in a few of the greatest individual performances in MLB history, once topping out at .398 for a season batting average. He was a legend in San Franciso (the Pacific Coast League, before the majors was west of St. Louis), made multiple barnstorming trips to Japan (where he was more popular than Babe Ruth), and counseled hitters for the better part of four decades. He did "a little bit of everything".
What this also means, of course, is that Lefty's story is just broad enough to disappoint most readers of this book in some fashion. If you came (like me) for the playing career, you'll feel like you didn't get quite enough. I think the same can be said for his time in the PCL, Japan trips, and coaching. With such a breadth of material to cover, it was difficult for Snelling to focus on just one activity or narrative and build off of that.
Not helping matters is Snelling's often strange choice of narrative-building attempts, which jump around in the timeline and (in my opinion) don't really add much other than confusion. This is especially true regarding O'Doul's excursions to the Far East. In such a scattershot story as-is, I don't think the time-jumps helped matters at all.
Overall, though, this book is decent at providing interesting content to those who are interested in the subject matter in the first place. I mean, let's be honest here: if you are reading a book about Lefty O'Doul to begin with, you likely know what you are in for. The hard-core baseball history nuts will glean some nuggets out of it, while everyone else will likely be bored or perhaps a bit confused. Bottom line: very much a "niche read" for fans of the genre (baseball history).
The hallmark of O'Doul's career is that he was able to stick around for so long and serve the game in such a broad capacity. As Snelling's book covers, he turned in a few of the greatest individual performances in MLB history, once topping out at .398 for a season batting average. He was a legend in San Franciso (the Pacific Coast League, before the majors was west of St. Louis), made multiple barnstorming trips to Japan (where he was more popular than Babe Ruth), and counseled hitters for the better part of four decades. He did "a little bit of everything".
What this also means, of course, is that Lefty's story is just broad enough to disappoint most readers of this book in some fashion. If you came (like me) for the playing career, you'll feel like you didn't get quite enough. I think the same can be said for his time in the PCL, Japan trips, and coaching. With such a breadth of material to cover, it was difficult for Snelling to focus on just one activity or narrative and build off of that.
Not helping matters is Snelling's often strange choice of narrative-building attempts, which jump around in the timeline and (in my opinion) don't really add much other than confusion. This is especially true regarding O'Doul's excursions to the Far East. In such a scattershot story as-is, I don't think the time-jumps helped matters at all.
Overall, though, this book is decent at providing interesting content to those who are interested in the subject matter in the first place. I mean, let's be honest here: if you are reading a book about Lefty O'Doul to begin with, you likely know what you are in for. The hard-core baseball history nuts will glean some nuggets out of it, while everyone else will likely be bored or perhaps a bit confused. Bottom line: very much a "niche read" for fans of the genre (baseball history).
December 11, 2018
This book is about a baseball player that I had never heard about but when he when he retired he left with a .349 batting avg. He was born in San Francisco and grew up there and played minor league ball with the Pacific Seals. He started out as a pitcher and would make it the big leagues as one. From 1919 to 1923 he would pitch in the big leagues until injured. He then went back to the Seals and worked at becoming an outfielder and hitter. In 27 in the Pacific league he hit 30 home runs and stole 30 bases, and in 28 was back in the majors. He would win the 1929 and 1932 batting titles. He then went bank to San Fran and coached the Seals from 1935-1951 and was the coach when DiMaggio came through, but did not take any credit. Just said was smart enough to leave him alone. He also became very instrumental in bringing baseball to Japan when he first went in 31 and then went back in 34 and brought Babe Ruth with him. In 35 he named the Tokyo Giants after his long time association with them and their uniforms are similar. This was a very good book about a baseball player I never heard about. I received this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 5 stars. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com
May 7, 2017
Growing up I remember seeing an old man Casey Stengel on TV and knowing he had a been a great baseball manager. At a minor league game when I was young, my dad pointed out an older gentleman there and said that was Carl Hubble and I should get his autograph. I grew up hearing stories of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig & Joe DiMaggio. I watched Willie Mays and Willie McCovey play. I have seen Ichiro Suzuki play. All these incredible baseball players had one thing in common, whether directly or indirectly, Lefty O'Doul. I have been by the restaurant / bar Lefty O'Doul's in San Francisco on a number occasions. Little did I know of the tremendous impact the man had on baseball both here and in Japan. Snelling has woven together a very entertaining and informative book on a man who very few have probably heard of, yet has left an incredible mark on the great game of baseball. One of my favorite baseball books
February 24, 2020
Lefty O'Doul, largely forgotten today was once the most popular citizen of San Francisco and was hugely instrumental in the development of profession baseball in Japan. While not in Cooperstown, he is in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. A phenomenal athlete, he was a mediocre pitcher but a superb hitter - he still owns the highest season batting average (.397) in National League history. He was probably the greatest hitting coach of all time- Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Willie McCovey and many others attribute at least some of their success to Lefty. A vivid personality, raconteur and hail-fellow-well-met, he represented baseball in multiple capacities for over 40 years. Despite all this, Snelling's biography seems to have been gleaned almost entirely from the public record and has very little about his private life (I wondered where he lived - house, apartment?) and is thus a less than complete picture of a compelling larger-than-life character.
June 7, 2018
Above average sports book in which Snelling gives some new insights to a very interesting individual.
O'Doul's exploits in Japan put in on a par with Moe Berg vis a vis international baseball.
O'Doul's exploits in Japan put in on a par with Moe Berg vis a vis international baseball.
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