Adrián Zabala Rodríguez (August 26, 1916 – January 4, 2002) was a Cuban-born 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 ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

. He played parts of two seasons in

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 ...

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 ...

in 1945 and 1949. The , left-hander was a native of

San Antonio de los Baños San Antonio de los Baños is a municipality and town in the Artemisa Province of Cuba. It is located 26 km from the city of Havana, and the Ariguanabo River runs through it. It was founded in 1802. History There are 39 schools in the town, e ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

Amateur ball, minor leagues, and Cuban ball

Zabala played amateur baseball in Cuba in the mid-1930s, signing with the

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 ...

Panama City Pelicans in 1937. He continued to play professionally in Cuba in the winter while pitching minor league ball independently, then with

Jersey City Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

, a Giants farm club. After serving with the Cuban Army in 1943–44, he returned to Jersey City in 1945, and was promoted to the majors in mid-season.

First major league stint and suspension

Zabala made his major league debut on August 11, 1945, starting and winning 10–1 against the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

at the

Polo Grounds The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 to 1963. The original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876 and demolished in 1889, was built for the ...

. In 1946, Zabala jumped to the

Mexican League The Mexican Baseball League (, or LMB, ) is a professional baseball league in Mexico. It is the oldest running professional sports league in the country. The league has 20 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games ...

and was suspended for five years. He pitched two seasons for the Pericos de Puebla, then joined the

Sherbrooke Athletics The Sherbrooke Indians were a minor league baseball team located in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. They played in the Provincial League from 1948 to 1951 as the Sherbrooke Athletics and again from 1953 to 1955 as the Indians. They won the first Provi ...

of the

Provincial League Provincial League (formerly known as Professional League) also known as Pro League was the old regional Football league in Thailand in 1999–2008. It was founded in 1999 under the name "Provincial League" organized by Sports Authority of Thailan ...

in 1948 while he awaited reinstatement. His suspension was lifted on June 5, 1949, allowing him to return to the Giants.

Second major league stint

Perhaps his finest major league effort came on July 31, 1949, his first game back in New York since 1945. Zabala started the second game of a doubleheader against the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

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and pitched a

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 ...

shutout In team sports, a shutout (North American English, US) or clean sheet (Commonwealth English, UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketba ...

, winning 9–0. Zabala spent the rest of the season with the Giants, posting a 2–3 record with a 5.27 ERA in 15 games.

Return to the minors

In 1950, Zabala was sent back to the minors, where he played with the

Minneapolis Millers The Minneapolis Millers were an American professional minor league baseball team that played in Minneapolis, Minnesota, through 1960. In the 19th century a different Minneapolis Millers were part of the Western League. The team played first in ...

until 1953. He was then traded to the San Francisco Seals in October with two other players and cash for pitcher

Windy McCall John William McCall (July 18, 1925 – February 5, 2015) was a relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who played from 1948 through 1957 for the Boston Red Sox (1948–49), Pittsburgh Pirates (1950) and New York Giants (1954–57). Listed at tal ...

. In 1955, he joined the Jacksonville Braves, finishing his career there in 1956.

Career overview

Zabala's MLB career totals include 26

games pitched In baseball statistics, games pitched (denoted by Games G in tables of only pitching statistics) is the number of games in which a player appears as a pitcher. The statistic is also referred to as appearances, especially to refer to the number of ...

, 4 wins, 7 losses, 9 starts, 3 complete games, 1 shutout, 8

games finished In baseball statistics, a relief pitcher is credited with a game finished (denoted by GF) if he is the last pitcher to pitch for his team in a game. A starting pitcher is not credited with a GF for pitching a complete game. Mariano Rivera is the ...

, and 1 save. He allowed 47

earned run In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an erro ...

s in 84.1

innings pitched In baseball, the statistic innings pitched (IP) is the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of Batter (baseball), batters and baserunners that have been put out while the pitcher is on the Baseball field#Pitcher's mou ...

, giving him an

ERA An era is a span of time. Era or ERA may also refer to: * Era (geology), a subdivision of geologic time * Calendar era Education * Academy of European Law (German: '), an international law school * ERA School, in Melbourne, Australia * E ...

of 5.02. Overall, he pitched professionally for twenty years.

Death

Zabala died at the age of 85 in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

Notes

External links

Retrosheet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zabala, Adrian Major League Baseball pitchers New York Giants (baseball) players Panama City Pelicans players Jacksonville Tars players Jersey City Giants players Pericos de Puebla players Sherbrooke Athletics players Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players San Francisco Seals (baseball) players Oakland Oaks (baseball) players Jacksonville Braves players Major League Baseball players from Cuba 20th-century Cuban sportsmen Cuban expatriate baseball players in the United States People from San Antonio de los Baños Baseball players from Artemisa Province 1916 births 2002 deaths