A Little Baseball History and Good Food

The front of Lefty O'Doul's in Union Square in San Francisco

Lefty's Japanese Hall of Fame plaque

Baseball and food are two things that go well together. At Lefty O'Doul's in San Francisco you get the best of both world's. O'Doul's was founded in 1958 by the great PCL and New York Giant player Lefty O'Doul. He led the National League in batting in 1929 with a .398 average. He had a career .349 batting average in the major leagues. He has the highest batting average of any non Hall of Famer.  He is considered the person who helped developed baseball in Japan after World War II. He is in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. He is beloved San Francisco baseball figure as he was born in the city, played and managed for the San Francisco Seals of the old PCL

A PCL San Francisco Seals Jersey

A picture of Cy Young at Lefty's

History is important part Lefty O'Doul's. Everywhere you look history of the game of baseball is on the walls. Pictures align the walls of the greats of game from the pre-1950 era. It is really cool to see all of the pictures. A good part of the wall space is Lefty and there are a lot of pictures of San Francisco's favorite son-Joe Dimaggio along with Marilyn Monroe. I just love looking at all the old pictures of ballplayers. There are a lot of pictures of the old PCL days at Lefty's. Being a fan of the old PCL-I love them.

A chili cheese dog with onions and a side of dressing and gravy

Other than the baseball memorabilia, it is the food that keeps me coming back. The food is excellent and it is the best deal in the whole Powell St/Union Square area. It is hofbrau food. Lots of hand carved roast beef, turkey and other meats with all the sides and salad's. They have great deserts also.One of the things that Lefty's is famous for is their chili that is homemade and some of the best I have ever had. Everytime I head to Lefty's the food is always great and I love watching them carve it while you wait.

A plate of Lefty's spaghetti and meatballs.

A sourdough clam chowder bowl

The back dining room at Lefty's

I love the atmosphere inside of Lefty's. The people who work there are always friendly and I would say everybody who walks into Lefty's is friendly. I have met many different people in the back dining room at Lefty's and have had many different and cool conversations with many different people from San Francisco Businessmen to tourists from Nebraska. It just seems that Lefty's brings out the friendliness in people. They have water stations at different parts of the place, if you want a glass of ice water, you can serve yourself. I do not know of anyplace that has that feature.

The self-serve ice-water station

So if you in the Union Square area of San Francisco, head over to Lefty's-grab some food, have something to drink and make some new friends.