The popular hofbrau-style restaurant and bar he founded in 1958 operated for years after his death as Lefty O'Doul's Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge on Geary Street, still serving his original recipe for Bloody Mary (although one news account says it was modified in the 1960s by O'Doul's bartender Chuck Davis). However, a landlord-tenant dispute caused the restaurant to close its doors in early 2017. In November 2018, the restaurant reopened in a new location at Fisherman's Wharf. However, the new location closed in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and the owner's bankruptcy following a federal indictment on corruption charges. A bridge over McCovey Cove, near the Giants' home field of Oracle Park, is named the Lefty O'Doul Bridge in his honor. Accordingly, the ballpark plaza and gate entrance adjacent to the bridge are also named after O'Doul. Besides the ineligible Shoeless Joe Jackson, O'Doul has the highest career batting average of any player eligible for the National Baseball Hall of Fame who is not enshrined. On November 5, 2021, he was selected to the final ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame's Early Days Committee for consideration in the Class of 2022. He received five of the necessary twelve votes. See also List of Major League Baseball batting champions American expatriate baseball players in Japan The Glory of Their Times, 1966 book References Further reading Leutzinger, Richard. "Lefty O'Doul and the Development of Japanese Baseball". The National Pastime, no. 12 (1992), pp. 30–34. . Leutzinger, Richard. Lefty O’Doul, the Legend That Baseball Nearly Forgot: The Story of the Hall of Fame's Missing Star. Carmel, California: Carmel Bay Publishing Group, 1997. . Dobbins, Dick; Twichell, Jon (editor: Rochmis, Jon). Nuggets on the Diamond, Professional Baseball in the Bay Area from the Gold Rush to the Present. San Francisco, California: Woodford Press, 1994. ; . Snelling, Dennis. Lefty O'Doul: Baseball's Forgotten Ambassador. University of Nebraska Press, 2017. ; External links Lefty O'Doul at SABR (Baseball BioProject) 1897 births 1969 deaths Baseball developers Baseball players from San Francisco Boston Red Sox players Brooklyn Dodgers players Brooklyn Robins players Burials at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park Des Moines Boosters players Hollywood Stars players Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Major League Baseball left fielders Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball hitting coaches National League All-Stars National League batting champions New York Giants (NL) players New York Yankees players Oakland Oaks (baseball) managers Pacific Coast