Lefty O'Doul is one of four Americans enshrined in the Japan Baseball Hall of Fame.
He played for the U.S. All Star team in Japan during the Tours of 1931 and
1934, and later organized several postwar Tours, including the 1949 San
Francisco Seals Tour of Japan, which was one of the first peacetime cultural
exchanges between the U.S. and Japan following the war. O’Doul was manager of the team.
While O’Doul retired as an active player after the
1934 season, he actually played in two games on the 1949 Seals tour. Thus, we see him here batting during the
tour. Unfortunately, at the plate he
went 0 for 3 in two games, and he allowed two runs during a three inning
pitching stint out of the bullpen.
This is first time we have had the privilege to
offer an example of this scarce, uncatalogued card. Twice previously, we have offered a quite
similar but slightly larger card in which "Frank O'Doul, Manager" is
printed in black, vertical Japanese text on the front of the card. In this case, the text is white and is
printed in horizontal format near the bottom, with text reading “O’Doul Manager
(Seals)”. The back is blank except for a
manufacturer’s overprint stamp indicating that the owner of the card is
entitled to receive a 4th prize card from a display sheet associated with the
base set.
Size: Approximately 1 3/4” x 2 3/8”
Condition:
Vg/Ex