Ping Bodie, American baseball player (d. 1961)
Frank Stephen "Ping" Bodie (October 8, 1887 – December 17, 1961), born Francesco Stephano Pezzolo, was a 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.
One of the most feared sluggers in the 1910s, 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.
1887Oct, 8
Ping Bodie
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Events on 1887
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The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base. - 2Feb
Groundhog Day
In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed. - 10Apr
Pope Leo XIII
On Easter Sunday, Pope Leo XIII authorizes the establishment of the Catholic University of America. - 28Apr
Guillaume Schnaebelé
A week after being arrested by the Prussian Secret Police, French police inspector Guillaume Schnaebelé is released on order of William I, German Emperor, defusing a possible war. - 11Nov
Haymarket affair
August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer and George Engel are executed as a result of the Haymarket affair.