Lefty O'Doul and the Buck O'Neil Award
The Buck O'Neil Award will be issued in 2011 by the baseball Hall of Fame. This award honors those individuals who were ambassadors to the game and have promoted the game throughout their life. Lefty should be one of the people who gets this award.
Below is an open letter from Lefty's cousin Tom about the award.
Giants Fans and friends of "Lefty" O'Doul,
The time has come to start our letter writing campaign to the Baseball Hall of Fame and put "Lefty" into "The Hall."
The Buck O'Neil Award is to be awarded to persons who were ambassadors to the game and have promoted the game over their lifetime. Francis Joseph "Lefty" O'Doul was one of those pioneers and a true ambassador to the game.
What he did for baseball in Japan qualified him for induction into the Japan Baseball Hall of Fame.
What he did for baseball on the West Coast qualified him for induction into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame and the Pacific Coast League Baseball Hall of Fame.
No one is more deserving to be recognized as an ambassador to baseball than Francis Joseph "Lefty" O'Doul. He deserves to receive the Buck O'Neil Award.
The award will be announced in 2011. But, now is the time to start writing letters.
Send your letters only. No e-mail or fax. to:
Buck O'Neil Award
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
25 Main Street
Cooperstown, NY
13326-1330
Thank you and I'll see you in Cooperstown in 2011.
All the best,
Tom O'Doul
Here's still one more "testimonial" about Lefty.