George Washington "Zip" Zabel (February 18, 1891, Wetmore, Kansas—May 31, 1970, Beloit, Wisconsin) was a professional baseball pitcher. He played all or part of three seasons in Major League Baseball in 1913-15 for the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

. Zabel attended Baker University, in Baldwin City, Kansas, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1916 in chemistry. On June 17, 1915, Zabel set the record for most innings pitched in relief in one game. He came into the game in relief for

Bert Humphries Albert Humphries (September 26, 1880 – September 21, 1945), was a professional baseball player who played pitcher in the Major Leagues from -. He would play for the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, and Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia P ...

with two outs in the first inning, and pitched the final innings to earn the win over the

Brooklyn Robins The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, Californi ...

(now the Los Angeles Dodgers) and opposing pitcher Jeff Pfeffer, who pitched the

complete game In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...

. After that game, Zabel only played one more start in the majors, as he had begun to experience arm trouble as a result of the game. He then played two years in the minors in Los Angeles and Toronto before retiring from baseball in July 1917. Afterwards, he went to work for

Fairbanks Morse Fairbanks, Morse and Company was an American manufacturing company in the late 19th and early 20th century. Originally a weighing scale manufacturer, it later diversified into pumps, engines, windmills, coffee grinders, radios, farm tractors, fee ...

in Beloit, Wisconsin, where he eventually rose to the position of chief metallurgist. He continued to work there in various capacities for the next 32 years. After moving to Beloit, he played for their city baseball team for a season. In 1919, Zabel became a referee for Beloit's city football team. The only game he is infamously known for as a referee is the game between the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

and Beloit on November 23. In the game he was accused of many bad calls by George Calhoun, Green Bay's manager. Those calls included mistakenly adding 5 seconds to the clock before half time, taking away a Packers touchdown by instead placing the ball at the 2, calling a non-existent offsides penalty on the Packers on the subsequent play, which also would have been a touchdown, and not calling fan interference when a fan stepped on the field and tripped Packers quarterback Orlo McLean, who was running downfield.

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External links

A Wetmore, Kansas page
with a good picture of Zabel
Zip Zabel
at Baseball-Almanac.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Zabel, Zip Major League Baseball pitchers Chicago Cubs players Youngstown Steelmen players Appleton Papermakers players Winnipeg Maroons (baseball) players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players Toledo Mud Hens players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players Baker Wildcats baseball players Baseball players from Kansas Sportspeople from Beloit, Wisconsin People from Nemaha County, Kansas 1891 births 1970 deaths