Lefty: An American Odyssey by Vernona Gomez and Lawrence Goldstone (review)

Lefty Gomez was one of the five dominant pitchers of the 1930s—DizzyDean, Lefty Grove, Carl Hubbell, and Red Ruffing were the others. Gomez pitched for seven New York Yankees pennant winners and is a member of baseball’s Hall of Fame. In addition, he was one of the game’s most colorful and quotable characters, the first pitcher to make the cover of Time magazine, and a man who was adored by the press and the fans. Yet until the publication of Lefty: An American Odyssey, by Lefty’s daughter Vernona and author Lawrence Goldstone, there had been no biography written of Gomez.

Lefty Gomez lived a long and productive life and the authors cover it all, from his boyhood in rural Rodeo, California, through his minor-league days with the San Francisco Seals, to his glory years with the Yankees, his career as the most successful salesman ever for the Wilson Sporting Goods company, his long involvement with Babe Ruth League baseball, and his recovery from alcoholism and a nervous breakdown.

Lefty’s youth in Rodeo reads like something from a John Steinbeck novel of that time and place, for while not too far from San Francisco geographically, Rodeo was a cultural wasteland. Lefty did all the things young boys did in such places, go to school, help with the chores on the farm, and play baseball. Being a big-league ballplayer was all he ever wanted, and though he had to fight his father all the way, he made it to the Seals and then to New York.

Gomez pitched for the Yankees from 1930 until he was unceremoniously released by team president Ed Barrow following the 1942 season. He was a four-time twenty-game winner who led the American League in wins, winning percentage, and earned run average twice, and in strikeouts and shutouts three times. By leading the league in wins, earned run average, and strikeouts in both 1934 and 1937, he earned the pitcher’s Triple Crown in both those seasons.

Lefty was a member of the American League team for the first seven All-Star Games and the starting and winning pitcher of the first game in 1933. Though a notoriously weak batter, he also had the All-Star Game’s first run batted in. Gomez was a money pitcher, the one who delivered when a pennant or World Series was on the line. His World Series record was a perfect 6-0. After pitching (and losing) one game for the 1943 Washington Senators, Gomez retired with a 189–102 record and a .649 winning percentage. The Veterans Committee elected him to the Hall of Fame in 1972, a choice that did not meet with unanimous approval by sportswriters.

The six-feet-two, 150-pound country boy who came to New York with a cardboard suitcase and ill-fitting clothes soon transformed himself into a well-dressed, well-traveled celebrity. His long, and occasionally stormy, marriage to singer/dancer June O’Dea was great copy for the city’s gossip columnists. Before the birth of Vernona, Lefty and June could be found almost every evening at one of New York’s nightspots, following the game at the Stadium and one of June’s shows on Broadway. There, Lefty often got to indulge in one of his two other great passions, playing the saxophone—flying airplanes was the other. During the offseason, the couple traveled either in the United States or to any of a number of foreign countries.

The gregarious, fun-loving Gomez was called the “Gay Castillian” by the New York press. But Lefty was actually Spanish-Portuguese on his father’s side and Welsh-Irish on his mother’s. The press also named him “El Goofy,” and while writing stories about what would now be called his “flakiness,” they never adequately portrayed what a fierce competitor Gomez was and how each loss ate at him.

Lefty played with and against some...