The New York Yankees Outfielder, the Ostrich and the Spaghetti Eating Contest
Former MLB slugger Ping Bodie was an accomplished eater who once defeated a ravenous bird in a matchup of appetites
Ping Bodie was a big-league power-hitting outfielder for nearly a decade during the Deadball Era. Although he was never a star, he was a productive player. However, his greatest achievement may have come off the field when he defeated an ostrich named Percy in a spaghetti eating contest.
A squat ball of muscle, Bodie was once described by player Dario Lodigiani as being “built like a six-footer somebody dropped a safe on.” He never hit more than eight home runs in any single season, yet he still finished in the top-10 in home runs in the American League five times during his nine-year career (1911–1914; 1917–1921).
Playing for three different teams, he combined to hit .275 with 43 home runs and 514 RBIs. He continued playing in the minors for years after his last major league season, but it was an incident that occurred during spring training in 1919 that will ensure his name lives on forever.
The great pasta pugilism went down on April 3rd when Bodie and his New York Yankees were in Jacksonville, Florida for spring training. Percy the ostrich was a…
