No doubt you’ve heard of the time-honored custom of stealing a garden gnome and taking it on vacation, sending the owners postcards and photos of the kidnapped lawn statue from various exotic locales. Well, recently the same thing happened with Lefty O’Doul’s arm.
O’Doul was a Hall-of-Fame pitcher-turned-outfielder for the Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies, Dodgers and Giants from 1919-1934, and a San Francisco native after which the SF tavern Lefty O’Doul’s is named. A mannequin of O’Doul has been stationed near the entrance to the Geary St. establishment for several years. But one night, tragedy struck.
Lefty’s arm was abducted by two men who perhaps were emboldened by too many of O’Doul’s Bloody Marys. The men took the arm on a three-year joyride through the Midwest, photographing it in various locales and situations — some of them rated PG-13.
Tuesday, the arm returned in its mysterious package with a return address of Des Moines, Iowa. Besides the arm, the white box – big enough to hold an old-fashioned 19-inch TV – included a letter, a dozen snapshots and a barrelful of Styrofoam peanuts.
The letter was from “Lefty’s Left Arm” and opened “Dear Bar Patrons of Lefty O’Doul’s.” It recalled the plane flight to Des Moines in an overhead bin and its “reservations about the weather.”
And then there was this:
To judge from the photos, though, the arm was usually involved in harassing the friends of its captors, who used it to grope anyone within arm’s reach.
That explains the Steelers wristband.
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Lefty O’Doul’s thieves do the right thing [San Francisco Chronicle]
