Gus Edward Zernial (June 27, 1923 – January 20, 2011) was an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player. He played as an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

, most notably for the

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, they became the Oakland ...

with whom he remained when they moved west and became the

Kansas City Athletics The Kansas City Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Kansas City, Missouri, from 1955 to 1967, having previously played in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as the Philadelphia Athletics. After moving in 1967, the team became the ...

in 1955. Nicknamed " Ozark Ike" after the popular comic strip character, Zernial was one of the most prolific power hitters of the 1950s, joining Hall of Famers

Mickey Mantle Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931 – August 13, 1995), nicknamed "the Mick" and "the Commerce Comet", was an American professional baseball player who played his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career (1951–1968) with the New York ...

Yogi Berra Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra (born Lorenzo Pietro Berra; May 12, 1925 – September 22, 2015) was an American professional baseball catcher who later took on the roles of Manager (baseball), manager and Coach (baseball), coach. He played 19 seas ...

and

Larry Doby Lawrence Eugene Doby (December 13, 1923 – June 18, 2003) was an American professional baseball player in the Negro league baseball, Negro leagues and Major League Baseball (MLB) who was the second black player to break baseball color line, bas ...

in the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

for most

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s in the decade.

Professional career

Minor leagues

Before being called up to the major leagues, Zernial played in the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

, the highly successful

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

circuit. In the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

series ''When It Was a Game'', Zernial states that he took a pay cut to come to the majors.

Major leagues

After he hit 29 homers for the White Sox in 1950, Zernial was sent to the Athletics in a trade that brought Minnie Miñoso to Chicago in 1951. That year Zernial led the league in home runs (33),

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

(129), extra base hits (68), and outfield assists (17). In 1952 he hit 29 homers with 100 RBIs, and in 1953 he hit 42 home runs with 108 RBIs. Zernial was the first major leaguer to hit four home runs in the month of October during the regular season, since 1900, which he accomplished during a doubleheader on October 1, 1950.

Ron Kittle Ronald Dale Kittle (born January 5, 1958) is an American former left fielder and designated hitter in Major League Baseball (MLB). He was known for his home run hitting power, and was named the 1983 Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award ...

would become the second player to do this in 1985. Zernial and Al Zarilla teamed up in April 1951 to become the only players whose last names started with "Z" to play together in the same outfield. Zernial and Zarilla played left and right field, respectively, as part of a White Sox outfield unit in four games before Zernial was traded to the Philadelphia A's at the end of April.

Sal Maglie Salvatore Anthony Maglie (April 26, 1917 – December 28, 1992) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher and later, a scout and a pitching coach. He played from 1945 to 1958 for the New York Giants, Cleveland Indians, Brooklyn Dodgers, New ...

, former star pitcher for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

, wrote that Zernial had a "pretty big"

strike zone In baseball, the strike zone is the area of space through which a pitch must pass in order to be called a strike even if the batter does not swing. The strike zone is defined as the volume of space above home plate and between the batter's kne ...

, due to his stand-up posture when he was at the plate.

Career overview

An aggressive fielder, Zernial twice (1949 and 1954) broke his collarbone while making diving catches. He finished his career in Detroit, primarily as a

pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter (PH) is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, A ...

, hitting .323 with 10 home runs in his new role. Zernial was a career .265 hitter (1093-for-4131) with 237 home runs, 776 RBI, 572 runs, 159 doubles, 22 triples, 15

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out ...

s and 383 bases on balls in 1234 games. Zernial is featured in one of the most unusual baseball cards of all time. His 1952

Topps The Topps Company, Inc. is an American company that manufactures trading cards and other collectibles. Formerly based in New York City, Topps is best known as a leading producer of Baseball card, baseball and other sports and Non-sports tradi ...

card shows Zernial holding a bat that has six baseballs attached to it. This photo recognized that he had tied an American League record by hitting six home runs in three consecutive games from May 13–16, 1951. The day after the picture was taken, he hit his seventh home run in a fourth consecutive game. Zernial has the third most home runs of all time among players whose last name begins with the letter Z. His 237 are third only to Todd Zeile who finished his career with 253 and

Ryan Zimmerman Ryan Wallace Zimmerman (born September 28, 1984) is an American former professional baseball infielder who spent his entire 17-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the Washington Nationals. Zimmerman graduated from Floyd E. Kellam High S ...

who finished his career with 284. Zernial was the first player to hit three

s in the final game of a season, a record equalled by Dick Allen in 1968 and Evan Longoria and Dan Johnson in 2012. In a postscript to his acclaim noted above as the "new DiMaggio", Zernial figured, coincidentally, in

Joe DiMaggio Joseph Paul DiMaggio (; born Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio, ; November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999), nicknamed "Joltin' Joe", "the Yankee Clipper" and "Joe D.", was an American professional baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career ...

meeting his legendary future wife

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe ( ; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 August 4, 1962) was an American actress and model. Known for playing comic "Blonde stereotype#Blonde bombshell, blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex ...

. The "handsome" young Zernial was chosen to pose with rising star Monroe in a movie-studio publicity shot. DiMaggio was so struck by Marilyn in the photo, as well as so envious of Zernial's opportunity, that he asked the rival outfielder how to reach Marilyn.

Later honors

When the Oakland Athletics played the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

for the first time in interleague play in June 2003 at

Veterans Stadium Veterans Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, at the northeast corner of Broad Street (Philadelphia), Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. The seating ca ...

, the Phillies invited former Philadelphia A's Eddie Joost and Zernial to the games and recognized them prior to the first game.

Death

Zernial was diagnosed with cancer in 1990. He died on January 20, 2011, from complications related to congestive heart failure.

Notes

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zernial, Gus Major League Baseball left fielders Chicago White Sox players Philadelphia Athletics players Kansas City Athletics players 20th-century American sportsmen Detroit Tigers players American League All-Stars American League home run champions American League RBI champions Waycross Bears players Burlington Bees (Carolina League) players Hollywood Stars players Baltimore Orioles (International League) players Baseball players from Beaumont, Texas 1923 births 2011 deaths