Ping Bodie
| Ping Bodie | |
|---|---|
Bodie in 1918 | |
| Outfielder | |
| Born: October 8, 1887 San Francisco, California, U.S. | |
| Died: December 17, 1961 (aged 74) San Francisco, California, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| April 22, 1911, for the Chicago White Sox | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| July 24, 1921, for the New York Yankees | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .275 |
| Home runs | 43 |
| Runs batted in | 514 |
| Stats at Baseball Reference | |
| Teams | |
Frank Stephen "Ping" Bodie (October 8, 1887 – December 17, 1961), born Francesco Stephano Pezzolo, was an American center fielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Chicago White Sox (1911–1914), Philadelphia Athletics (1917) and New York Yankees (1919–1921). Bodie batted and threw right-handed. He was born in San Francisco.
Bodie was nicknamed "Ping" for the sound made when his fifty-two-ounce bat crashed into the "dead" ball of his era. Another nickname given to him was "The Wonderful Wop." He took the surname Bodie from the California town he once lived in.
It said that Bodie provided much of the inspiration for Ring Lardner's creation of the famous baseball fictional series You Know Me Al. Appearing originally in the Saturday Evening Post, the piece was written in the form of letters written by a bush league baseball player to a friend back home.