Italian Heritage Month: Francesco Stephano Pezzolo, AKA Ping Bodie

Better known throughout his professional baseball career as Ping Bodie, Francesco Stephano Pezzolo was a first-generation outfielder who helped pave the way for future New York Yankees’ stars like Joe DiMaggio, Tony “Push 'em up” Lazzeri, Frankie Crosetti, Phil Rizzuto, Yogi Berra, and others. Ping got his name from the “ping” noise made when his 52-ounce bat hit the horsehide, and “Bodie” from the Sierra Mountain mining town he once lived in. A ghost town now, in its day, Bodie was quite the place. As a bustling gold mining center, Bodie was akin to San Francisco in the necessities and temptations it offered. Along Main Street, residents would find a Wells Fargo Bank, four volunteer fire companies, the railroad, miners' and mechanics' union headquarters, several daily newspapers, a Chinatown and a jail. At its peak, Bodie offered thirsty goldminers a choice of 65 saloons and five houses of ill-repute that lined Bodie’s mile-long Main Street. Murders, shootouts, barroom brawls, and stagecoach holdups were everyday occurrences. Fittingly, an undertaker and Boot Hill lay just off Bodie’s outskirts.

In 1905, Bodie began his professional career in the California State League, America’s first fully integrated league. From its inception in the early 20th century until it disbanded in the mid-1940s, the California State League fielded baseball history’s most talented players both black---“Bullet” Joe Rogan--- and white---Jimmy Foxx. Bodie’s versatility helped him in his early days. He played all the infield and outfield positions and pitched occasionally before he settled permanently in the outfield.

Joining the Pacific Coast League’s San Francisco Seals in 1908, he blasted thirty homers in 1910, and the Chicago White Sox called him up in 1911. Initially, Bodie rode the pine. Sox owner Charles Comiskey was unhappy about his team’s weak hitting and complained publicly. Ping took advantage of Comiskey’s ire, sought him out and said, “You want some hitting, put me in the lineup.” Comiskey told manager Hugh Duffy to start Bodie, and Ping became a regular for four years with the Pale Hose hitting .289 with 97 RBIs, then .294, .265 and .229. After his poor 1915 season and frequent clashes with manager Jimmy Callahan, the Sox sold him back to the Seals.

In 1917, Ping returned to the big leagues with the Philadelphia A’s, batting .291 in 148 games. The following year, the A’s traded Ping to the Yankees for heavy-hitting first sacker George Burns and his .352 batting average. With the Yanks Bodie batted .256, .278 and .295 in three full seasons. After the Bronx Bombers won the 1921 pennant, Ping asked for a half share of the World Series money, but instead the always-penurious Yankees sent him to the minors where he spent the next seven seasons.

Fans and teammates alike loved Ping. With the Yankees, he roomed with Babe Ruth and said that it was like sharing quarters with his suitcase, a reference to the Bambino’s late-night X-rated carousing. With the last place A’s, Bodie proclaimed, “I and the Liberty Bell are Philadelphia’s only attractions.” Ping’s major league career totals were a batting average of .275, 1011 hits, forty-three homers, 516 runs batted in, and 393 runs scored in 1050 games. His minor league totals were more impressive: .310 average, 1973 hits, 203 homers, 581 RBIs, and 990 runs scored in 1787 games.

Bodie’s post-baseball life was as exciting as his horsehide days. Ping was an electrician for 32 years on Hollywood movie lots and a bit actor, mostly with Universal Studios. Outgoing and popular, he made friends with many silver screen stars like Charles Boyer and Carole Lombard. Although surrounded by the glitterati, Ping missed baseball. Frequently asked if, at age 70, he could still hit, Bodie shot back his retorts, “Give me the mace and I’ll drive the pumpkin down Whitey Ford’s throat.” Or Bodie would colorfully say to his rapt audience, “Boy, how I used to whale the old apple and smack the old onion.”

In 1961, Bodie, age 74, died of lung cancer in San Francisco’s Notre Dame Hospital.

Joe Guzzardi is a Society for American Baseball Research and the Internet Society of Baseball Writers. Contact him at guzzjoe@yahoo.com