Baseball Legend Lefty O'Doul's 'Arm' Reattached After 3 Years

(CANVAS STAFF REPORTS) - The left arm lifted from Lefty O'Doul lingered long enough on the lam.

At long last, it's back, attached to the mannequin that lost it three years ago to a pair of drunken tourists.

Darlene Sularski, a cocktail waitress and hostess at Lefty O'Doul's Restaurant and Tavern in San Francisco, told the San Francisco Chronicle that the severed arm was returned in a package Tuesday. The box was filled with packing peanuts, photos and a letter from the tourists who stole it.

"We got a package and our cocktail waitress opened it up and it scared her to death," tavern owner Nick Bovis told NPR . "... She thought it was a live body part."

The men took the arm on a three-year joyride through the Midwest, reports The Chronicle . The handwritten note in the package read: "We felt it was time for Lefty to return home. He will be missed but long remembered! Lefty's friends."

The two culprits were tourists visiting Lefty O'Doul's who ripped the arm off the mannequin that greeted patrons. Bartender Paul Stengel said he leapt over the bar and chased the thieves, but they got away.

The arm apparently had a great time. The letter recalled the plane flight to Des Moines in an overhead bin and its "reservations about the weather." The arm also took part in a 12,000-cyclist bike race across Iowa, as well as sledding and touring the state Capitol, reports The Chronicle .

The real Lefty O'Doul played professional baseball for the Yankees, Red Sox, Giants, Dodgers and Phillies. He also managed the minor league San Francisco Seals for 17 seasons.

O'Doul opened his saloon in 1958 and died in 1969. Today it is a shrine both to O'Doul and baseball, with historical photos covering its walls.

It also has a two-armed mannequin – once again.