A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother. The child is a godchild (godson, goddaughter).

Traditionally, godparents were informally responsible for ensuring the child's religious education was carried out, and for caring for the child should he/she be orphaned. Today, the word godparent might not have explicitly religious overtones. The modern view of a godparent tends to be an individual chosen by the parents to take an interest in the child's upbringing and personal development.

By the 2nd century CE, infant baptism had become accepted as a ceremony largely for the spiritual purification and social initiation of infants. The requirement for some confession of faith necessitated the use of adults who acted as sponsors for the child. They vocalized the confession of faith and acted as guarantors of the child’s spiritual upbringing. Normally, these sponsors were the natural parents of a child, as emphasized in 408 by St. Augustine who suggested that they could, it seems exceptionally, be other individuals. Within a century, the Corpus Juris Civilis indicates that parents had been replaced in this role almost completely. This was clarified in 813 when the Council of Munich prohibited natural parents from acting as godparents to their own children.

Francis Joseph "Lefty" O'Doul (March 4, 1897 – December 7, 1969) was an American Major League Baseball player who went on to become an extraordinarily successful manager in the minor leagues, and also a vital figure in the establishment of professional baseball in Japan.

Born in San Francisco, California, O'Doul began his professional career as a left-handed pitcher with the minor-league San Francisco Seals of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. He had some major-league success with the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox from 1919 to 1923 as a reliever. He pitched in one notable game on July 7, 1923 season that would go down in the record books. Relieving for starter Curt Fullerton, O'Doul would give up 16 runs over 3 innings of relief, with 14 of those runs coming in the 6th inning alone. Although errors by Joe Sewell and Rube Lutzke would mean that only 3 of the 16 runs were earned, O'Doul would set the major league record for most runs allowed by a reliever in one appearance. This record was equaled by St Louis Cardinals pitcher Johnny Stuart in 1925 and Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Dutch Schesler in 1931 (although both needed 8 innings to allow 16 runs). Following the season, he developed a sore arm which forced him to give up pitching. After the 1923 season, the New York Giants returned O'Doul to the Pacific Coast League where he was converted to a power-hitting outfielder. O'Doul returned to the majors in 1928, where he batted .319 as a platoon player.