Nicknamed Digger after a comic character from the radio show "The Life of Riley," O'Dell was an eccentric lantern-jawed extrovert. A gentleman farmer from South Carolina, he bragged more about his quail shooting than his pitching, and at times kept opponents from stealing his catcher's sign by throwing what he wished. He went 19-14 for the 1962 NL champion Giants, then lost the World Series opener to the Yankees. He relieved in more than half his ML games and was the Braves' bullpen ace in 1965, when he saved 18 and won a league-high 10 in relief. (JK)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » July 8, 1958: The AL edges the NL 4-3 in the All-Star Game played at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium. The Yankees Gil McDougald singles to score Boston's Frank Malzone with the deciding run. Billy O'Dell of San Francisco pitches perfect ball for three innings and gets the save. This is the first All-Star Game played without an extra-base hit. » September 11, 1958: Orioles manager Paul Richards lists three pitchers in his starting line-up, hoping for a scoring chance in the first inning, at which point he can remove the extra pitchers for a batter of his choice. Billy O'Dell, batting 9th at P; Jack Harshman in CF, batting 5th; Milt Pappas at 2B, batting 7th. Only O'Dell bats as he goes to 14–11, losing to KC's Ned Garver, 7–1. The A's plate five in the 8th, paced by Bob Cerv's 33rd home run. » May 19, 1959: At Baltimore, Billy O'Dell's 120 foot 2-run home run is all he needs to beat the White Sox, 2–1. O'Dell slices a ball that bounces over Al Smith's head in LF for an inside-the-park home run in the 2nd. » August 6, 1959: White Sox lefty Billy Pierce and the Orioles P Billy O'Dell are even up 1–1 when Hoyt Wilhelm relieves in the 9th for Baltimore. Wilhelm tosses eight 2/3 innings of no-hit ball before allowing a safety. After 18 innings and the score still at 1–1, the game is mercifully called because of the midnight curfew. Pierce goes 16 innings before he gets relief from Turk Lown. » June 29, 1961: With three round-trippers at Philadelphia—one a 10th-inning shot to win 8–7—Willie Mays becomes the 4th ML player with three or more home runs twice in one season. Manager Gene Mauch's efforts to conceal his starting pitcher and force Al Dark's hand has a Phillie lineup including hurlers Don Ferrarese (batting leadoff, playing CF), Jim Owens (3rd, RF), Chris Short (7th, C), and Ken Lehman (9th, P) against San Francisco. When Dark sends a lefty to the mound, Mauch replaces Ferrarese. Dark then replaces Billy O'Dell with Sam Jones. Mauch replaces Lehman with Dallas Green after two batters. All the maneuvering takes three hours and 20 minutes. The Giants then take the nitecap, 4–1, as Mays triples and doubles home two runs and completes a DP with a throw home. » September 22, 1961: The Giants Billy O'Dell stops the first-place Reds, 6–0, at Cincinnati, reducing the Reds lead to four games. » September 23, 1962: At Houston, Billy O'Dell beats the Colts 10–3 to move the Giants three games behind the front-running Dodgers. » July 30, 1963: The Phillies tally 11 hits off the Giants Billy O'Dell, but the Digger shuts them out, 5–0. » February 1, 1965: C Ed Bailey moves from the Braves to the Giants for P Billy O'Dell. » August 24, 1965: In Milwaukee, Tommy Harper cracks a two-run homer with two outs in the 9th inning as the Reds beat the Braves, 3–2. Billy O'Dell is the pitcher serving up Harper's homer. » September 11, 1965: Tony Cloninger's one-hit, 9–0 win is Milwaukee's 2nd straight one-hitter against the Mets, tying a ML mark set 48 years ago. Wade Blasingame, Billy O'Dell, and Phil Niekro combined the day before for a 3–1 win. In today's win, Aaron has two hits, a stolen base, RBI, and run scored before leaving for pinch hitter John Blanchard.