Gus Zernial died on Thursday. Jay Jaffe remembers the slugger:
For a long time Zernial held the distinction of hitting the most homers for a player whose last name ends in the letter Z with 237, but Todd Zeile passed him in 2003 while playing for the Yankees, hitting a homer off the Red Sox Bruce Chen. In 1951, Zernial and Al Zarilla did team up to form the first outfield with two players with the last name starting with Z, so there’s still that.
My thoughts go out to his family and friends.
One of my boyhood heroes, i was a kid growing up in Philly, the A’s were not particually good but Big Gus, and litte Bobby Schantz were very good.
He had some really good years and seemed to be a nice guy. He will not be forgotten.