Postcard from San Francisco

One lovey San Francisco day, after hanging out at America’s Cup Park, down on the Pier 26, I grabbed one of those famous “F” Line streetcars and rode it all the way down the Embarcadero to the Ferry Building, then around the bend and down Market Street to Powell.

Powell and Market is where you pick up cable car that goes up and down the hills of San Francisco all the way to Fisherman’s Wharf. By the way, there is another cable car run that begins on California and Market Streets and doesn’t have long lines like the Powell Street line. The two lines meet up on Nob Hill where they cross paths in front of the Mark Hopkins Hotel and the Fairmont Hotel. Just a hint for your next trip to SF.

But on this day, the object of my excursion was not to ride a cable car (nor to photograph one), something I have done many times in my life, starting when I was a small boy. Nope! I wanted lunch, but not just anywhere, I wanted to eat at Lefty O’Doul’s Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge up on Geary Street near Powell, very close to Union Square.

Lefty O’Doul’s is a San Francisco landmark…just as Francis Joseph “Lefty” O’Doul is a San Francisco sports legend. The restaurant and bar opened in 1958 when I was a young lad…and is still going strong. The story goes that Lefty opened the place so average folks could hang out with great sports stars. It may be one of the first sports bars ever opened. I wanted to go there on this trip because in all my years of being in and out of San Francisco, I had never been inside.

Now, I said Lefty was a legend and it is quite true. He played baseball originally for the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League. Later, he moved up to the majors and played for several teams over the years, including the New York Giants. In 1929, he hit an amazing .398 for the Philadelphia Phillies.

After retiring in 1934, he eventually became manager of his old team, the San Francisco Seals from 1937 to 1951. Over the years, he became the most successful manager ever in the Pacific Coast League.

But he wasn’t done, not by a longshot. He introduced baseball to Japan, serving as the sport's goodwill ambassador before and after World War II. The Tokyo Giants, sometimes considered "Japan's Baseball Team," were named by him in 1935 in honor of his longtime association with the New York Giants; the logo and uniform of the Giants in Japan strongly resemble their North American counterparts.

So Lefty left his mark on baseball and on San Francisco. I had a very nice lunch as the restaurant now resembles a Hof Brau. The roast beef was outstanding. But, the highlight for me was looking at the hundreds of sports photos and memorabilia that cover the walls of this old-time San Francisco establishment. One could spend hours there just looking.

Sports, especially San Francisco sports, have been intertwined with my life since I was a young boy, barely able to walk. While they don’t dominate my life as they did in my youth, I still have great nostalgia for the days of baseball and football, when they were just games. If you are old enough, you may remember those days, long before money became the driving force of all sports.

And while I still enjoy baseball and football games, today’s players are not my legends nor are they so intertwined with my life as the people in the photos on the walls of Lefty O’Doul’s.