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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.
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.
For more than a century Johnny Evers has been conjoined with
Chicago Cubs teammates Frank Chance and Joe Tinker, thanks to eight
lines of verse penned by a well-known New York columnist. He has
been caricatured as a scrawny, sour man who couldn't hit and who
owed his fame to that poem. In truth Johnny Evers was the heartbeat
of one of the greatest teams of the 20th century and the fiercest
competitor this side of Ty Cobb. He was at the centre of one of
baseball's greatest controversies, a chance event that sealed his
stardom and stole a pennant from John McGraw and the New York
Giants in 1908. Six years later, following a stunning set of
reversals and tragedies that resulted in his suffering a nervous
breakdown, he made a comeback with the Boston Braves and led that
team to the most improbable of championships. Spanning the time
from his birth in Troy, New York, to his death less than a year
after his election to the Hall of Fame, this is the biography of a
man who literally wrote the book about playing his position and set
the standard for winning baseball.
Ron Necciai once struck out 27 hitters in a nine-inning minor
league game. Floyd Giebell beat Bob Feller to clinch the 1940
American League pennant for the Detroit Tigers. John Paciorek had
three hits in three at bats in his big league debut-and never
played another game in the majors. These three players and twelve
other talented men (Bill Koski, Ed Sanicki, Joe Stanka, Bill Rohr,
Al Autry, Joe Brovia, John Leovich, Bert Shepard, Doug Clarey,
Marshall Mauldin, Bernie Williams, and Frank Leja) reached the top
of their profession only to sink back into obscurity. Through
interviews with all the players and extensive research, their
stories are told-from their triumphs to their swift
disappointments. Major and minor league year-by-year statistics for
each player are included.
The Pacific Coast League enjoyed a reputation as one of the premier
minor leagues in organized baseball. Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams,
Lefty Gomez, the Waner brothers and Ernie Lombardi were among the
future Hall of Famers who played in its cozy parks. Legendary minor
leaguers such as Smead Jolley, Buzz Arlett, Lefty ODoul and Frank
Shellenback made their marks in the PCL. This reference work is a
season-by-season guide to the glory days of the PCL. It includes a
listing of starters and primary reserves for all teams from 1903
through 1957, as well as playoff results, managerial records, and
statistical leaders for each season. Complete PCL records for over
500 of the circuits most notable players are also provided.
In 1903, a small league in California defied Organized Baseball by
adding teams in Portland and Seattle to become the strongest minor
league of the twentieth century. Calling itself the Pacific Coast
League, this outlaw association frequently outdrew its major league
counterparts and continued to challenge the authority of Organized
Baseball until the majors expanded into California in 1958. The
Pacific Coast League introduced the world to Joe, Vince and Dom
DiMaggio, Paul and Lloyd Waner, Ted Williams, Tony Lazzeri, Lefty
O'Doul, Mickey Cochrane, Bobby Doerr, and many other baseball
stars, all of whom originally signed with PCL teams. This thorough
history of the Pacific Coast League chronicles its foremost
personalities, governance, and contentious relationship with the
majors, proving that the history of the game involves far more than
the happenings in the American and National leagues.
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