Highlighted Year: Gus Zernial, 1955

Outfielder, Kansas City Athletics

Age: 32 (June 27)

5^th season with Athletics (4^th complete)

Bats – Right, Throws – Right

Height: 6’2”    Weight: 210 

Prior to 1955:

A native of Beaumont, Texas, Gus Edward Zernial was the youngest of ten children. His carpenter father died when he was 15. He played sandlot baseball and in high school participated in baseball, basketball, and football. Signed by the St. Louis Cardinals at age 17 in 1941, he played for the Waycross Bears of the Class D Georgia-Florida Legue in 1942 where he appeared in center field and batted .286 in 95 games with 25 doubles, 4 triples, and 3 home runs. Released by the Cardinals, Zernial joined the Navy for World War II service. He played service baseball and filled out physically, which allowed him to develop into a power hitter. Following his stint in the Navy, Zernial resumed his baseball career in 1946 with the Burlington Bees of the Class C Carolina League where he hit .333 with a league-leading 41 home runs along with 29 doubles, 111 RBIs, and a .649 slugging percentage. After going to spring training with the Cleveland Indians in 1947, he was waived and claimed by the Chicago White Sox, who assigned him to the Hollywood Stars of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League, where he batted .344 with 17 doubles, 6 triples, 12 home runs, 77 RBIs, a .400 OBP, and a .519 slugging percentage. Still with Hollywood in 1948, Zernial obtained the nickname “Ozark Ike” after a popular comic strip character who was a prodigious power hitter. Living up to the nickname, which he happily embraced, he led the PCL with 237 hits and 156 RBIs, while batting .322 with 47 doubles, 7 triples, 40 home runs, a .369 OBP, and a .567 slugging percentage. Zernial joined the White Sox in 1949 for a $5000 salary, which was down from the $8000 he made with Hollywood (at a time when the PCL operated almost like an additional major league). Installed in left field, Zernial was limited to 73 games due to a shoulder separation suffered in May. A highly productive minor league hitter, he widened his stance and ended up hitting .318 with 17 doubles, 5 home runs, 38 RBIs, a .366 OBP, and a .500 slugging percentage. The shoulder injury robbed him of his throwing ability in the outfield for a time. Zernial had a solid season at the plate in 1950, batting .280 with 16 doubles, 29 home runs (a team record at the time), 93 RBIs, a .330 OBP, and a .484 slugging percentage, although he struck out a league-leading 110 times. His last four home runs came during a season-ending double-header. During spring training in 1951, he appeared in a photo shoot with actress Marilyn Monroe which set the stage for him to appear frequenty in ads for several years. Zernial was traded to the Philadelphia Athletics four games into the 1951 season and went on to lead the American League in home runs (33) and RBIs (129) while again leading the league by striking out 101 times. (He also hit .268 with 30 doubles, 5 triples, a .345 OBP, and a .511 slugging percentage. Typically a mediocre and error-prone outfielder, he proved adept at charging in on fly balls and throwing out baserunners, which led to a league-leading 18 outfield assists. Zernial remained productive in 1952 as he batted .262 with 29 home runs, 100 RBIs, a .347 OBP, and a .452 slugging percentage. “Ozark Ike” started the 1953 All-Star Game in left field for the American League on his way to hitting .284 with 21 doubles, 42 home runs, 108 RBIs, a .355 OBP, and a .559 slugging percentage. In 1954, a broken collarbone suffered in July sidelined Zernial for six weeks and, limited to 97 games, he batted .250 with 14 home runs, 62 RBIs, a .316 OBP, and a .411 slugging percentage. The team, having fallen upon hard times in Philadelphia, was sold and moved to Kansas City in 1955.

1955 Season Summary

Appeared in 120 games

LF – 103, PH – 18

[Bracketed numbers indicate AL rank in Top 20]

Batting

Plate Appearances – 454

At Bats – 413

Runs – 62

Hits – 105

Doubles – 9

Triples – 3

Home Runs – 30 [2]

RBI – 84 [9]

Bases on Balls – 30

Int. BB – 1

Strikeouts – 90 [4]

Stolen Bases – 1

Caught Stealing – 0

Average - .254

OBP - .304

Slugging Pct. - .508 [3]

Total Bases – 210

GDP – 17 [6, tied with Roy Sievers, Mickey Vernon & Bobby Avila]

Hit by Pitches – 3 [19, tied with nineteen others]

Sac Hits – 0

Sac Flies – 8 [2, tied with Al Rosen & Mickey Vernon]

Midseason snapshot: HR – 17, RBI – 43, AVG - .251, SLG – .489, OBP – .301

---

Most hits, game – 3 on eight occasions

Longest hitting streak – 12 games

HR at home – 14

HR on road – 16

Most home runs, game – 2 (in 5 AB) at Boston 5/12, (in 4 AB) at Boston 8/5, (in 4 AB) at Washington 9/10, (in 5 AB) at Boston 9/14

Multi-HR games – 4

Most RBIs, game – 6 at Boston 9/14

Pinch-hitting – 2 for 17 (.118) with 1 HR & 5 RBI

Fielding

Chances – 251

Put Outs – 234

Assists – 8

Errors – 9

DP – 4

Pct. – .964

---

The relocated Athletics went 63-91 to finish sixth in the AL, 33 games behind the pennant-winning New York Yankees, while leading the league in fewest stolen bases (22) and fewest walks drawn (462). The pitching-poor A’s lost seven of their first nine games which set the tone for a season in which they still finished higher than their final Philadelphia year and drew a healthy 1,393,054 fans to Municipal Stadium, which was over a million more than they drew in ’54.

Aftermath of 1955:

Zernial’s production dropped off in 1956 as he batted .224 with 16 home runs, 44 RBIs, a .315 OBP, and a .445 slugging percentage. Zernial’s home run production bounced back to 27 in 1957 while he hit .236 with 20 doubles, 69 home runs, a .290 OBP, and a .471 slugging percentage. With the A’s seeking to improve their outfield defense in the offseason, Zernial was traded as part of a 13-player deal to the Detroit Tigers, who sought to make use of his power hitting. He was a part-time player for his new club in 1958, backing up in left field and pinch-hitting, where he topped the American League with 15 pinch-hits while batting .395 in that role with 3 homers and 12 RBIs. Overall, he appeared in 66 games and hit .323 with 5 home runs, 23 RBIs, a .351 OBP, and a .516 slugging percentage. In 1959 Zernial appeared in 32 games at first base while playing in only one game in the outfield and pinch-hitting 28 times. He was released following the season, thus ending his career. For his major league career, Zernial batted .265 with 1093 hits that included 159 doubles, 22 triples, and 237 home runs. Nine of his home runs were grand slams. He scored 572 runs and compiled 776 RBIs, a .329 OBP, and a .486 slugging percentage. In 191 pinch-hitting appearances he batted .266 with 10 home runs, 51 RBIs, a .325 OBP, and a .451 slugging percentage. With the Athletics he batted .259 with 806 hits, 447 runs scored, 115 doubles, 15 triples, 191 home runs, 592 RBIs, a .329 OBP, and a .489 slugging percentage. An All-Star only once, he was selected to the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame in 2001 among Athletics players who have since been split off from the Phillies inductees. Following his playing career and apart from several business ventures he became a television sports broadcaster. A golfer and bowler for recreation, Zernial died in 2011 at age 87.

---

Highlighted Years feature players who led a major league in one of the following categories: batting average, home runs (with a minimum of 10), runs batted in, or stolen bases (with a minimum of 20); or pitchers who led a major league in wins, strikeouts, earned run average, or saves (with a minimum of 10). Also included are participants in annual All-Star Games between the National and American Leagues since 1933. This category also includes Misc. players who received award votes, were contributors to teams that reached the postseason, or had notable seasons in non-award years.