James Edward Zinn (January 21, 1895 – February 26, 1991) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. He played all or part of four seasons in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) 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, the team became the Oaklan ...

(1919),

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

(1920–22), and

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

(1929). In five seasons he had a 13–16 win–loss record, 66 games pitched, 108 strikeouts, and a 4.30 ERA. After five seasons in the

minor leagues 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 Nor ...

, Zinn made his MLB debut on September 4, 1919 with the Philadelphia Athletics. He pitched for them in five games, then was sent to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the offseason. He spent parts of 1920 and 1922 in both the minors and with the Pirates, and spent all of 1921 on the major league roster. Zinn then spent six more years in the minor leagues before pitching in 18 games for the Cleveland Indians in 1929. Zinn was an above average hitting pitcher in the majors, posting a .283

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

(34-for-120) with 17 runs, 2

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

and 15

RBIs A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) 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 the bat ...

. He was used as a

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

10 times. In 20 games for the 1929

, he batted a career high .381 (16-for-42) with 1 home run and 8 RBI. Zinn was the winning pitcher for the first ever radio broadcast of a major league baseball game on August 5, 1921 by Pittsburgh's KDKA radio between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Philadelphia Phillies. In addition to his major league career, Zinn pitched for 25 years in the minor leagues, between 1915 and 1939. Between his stints with the Pirates and Indians, he spent 1923–28 pitching for the Kansas City Blues of the

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

, winning 20 games three times, including a 27-6 season in 1923. After leaving the Indians, he joined the San Francisco Seals of 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 ...

until 1935, winning 20 games twice more. In 1937, he turned to managing, becoming the player-manager of the

El Paso Texans EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American p ...

in the

Arizona–Texas League The Arizona–Texas League was a Class D level American minor league baseball league that existed for nine seasons, from 1931–32, 1937–41, 1947–50 and 1952-54. In 1951, the Arizona-Texas loop merged with the Sunset League (based primarily ...

. He continued to manage on and off in the minors until 1953. He died in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

at the age of 96.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zinn, Jimmy Major League Baseball pitchers Philadelphia Athletics players Pittsburgh Pirates players Cleveland Indians players Fort Smith Twins players Waco Navigators players Wichita Falls Spudders players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players San Francisco Seals (baseball) players Sacramento Senators players El Paso Texans players Jacksonville Jax players Sioux City Cowboys players Minor league baseball managers Baseball players from Arkansas 1895 births 1991 deaths People from Benton, Arkansas