Dennis Snelling has been a senior writer for Helmar Baseball History and Art magazine and a member of the Society for American Baseball Research and the Pacific Coast League Historical Society. He is the author of The Greatest Minor League: A History of the Pacific Coast League, 1903–1957 and Johnny Evers: A Baseball Life.
An admirable attempt to elevate O'Doul's place among baseball's pantheon of greats. --Benjamin Hill, MiLB.com-- (10/5/2017 12:00:00 AM) Dennis Snelling makes the reader fall in love with the larger than life character that was Lefty O'Doul. --Melissa Minners, g-pop.net Engrossing, scrupulously-researched. --Paul Hagen, MLB.com-- (5/5/2017 12:00:00 AM) The life of Lefty O'Doul was filled with joy, enthusiasm, and accomplishment, and no one has told his story better than Dennis Snelling. This wonderful book fully describes the many facets of Lefty's personality. --Dick Beverage, secretary-treasurer for the Association of Professional Ballplayers of America and president of the Pacific Coast League Historical Society-- (9/7/2016 12:00:00 AM) An excellent portrait of a thoughtful and generous man with a scientific approach to hitting and an unbridled passion for the game; an athlete, a pioneer, a diplomat, a teacher--and one of baseball's forgotten greats. --Andrew Elias, Ft. Myers Magazine Dennis Snelling's compelling biography, Lefty O'Doul . . . tells of the pitcher who, after a sore arm, became one of baseball's greatest hitters and hitting coaches before helping to establish the game in Japan. --Daniel M. Gold, New York Times-- (4/2/2017 12:00:00 AM) One of the best baseball books of the year. --Allen Barra, San Francisco Chronicle-- (5/17/2017 12:00:00 AM) Perhaps the most important twentieth-century figure not enshrined in Cooperstown, Lefty O'Doul influenced the game on both sides of the Pacific. . . . Dennis Snelling brings Lefty to life in this well-written and fascinating biography. Lefty O'Doul should be on the must-read list of all serious baseball fans. A true Sayonara home run! --Robert K. Fitts, author of Banzai Babe Ruth, winner of the Seymour Medal -- (9/7/2016 12:00:00 AM)