A native of Cleveland, Ohio and alumnus of Case Western Reserve University, O\'Dea began his professional career with the Fargo-Moorhead Twins in 1938. He played in 62 games for the Twins and had a .362 batting average. The following season he played for the Springfield Indians, hitting .342 in 122 games, and due to his hitting the Indians brought him to spring training in 1940. During that time, he was hit in the right eye by a foul ball, causing blindness. Despite the injury, he remained in the Indians organization the next four years, and made his major league debut on April 19, 1944.\n', '

O\'Dea spent the 1944 seasons with the Indians; he was exempt from reporting to service for World War II due to his earlier eye injury. He was primarily an outfielder, but also played first base and was a left-handed pitcher. In 163 Major League games, O\'Dea\'s career batting average was .272, and his earned run average was 5.68; he had a .318 batting average in 1944 in 76 games. After the 1945 season ended, he was sent back to the minors, which ended his major league career.\n', '

O\'Dea returned to the minor leagues and played for five more seasons, from 1946 to 1948 and from 1950 to 1951. He then served as a manager of various Indians C-Class and D-Class farm system teams between 1947 and 1960. He then spent the rest of his life as a scout for the Indians, until his death at the age of 58.\n', '

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