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American baseball player (1923 2011)

Gus Edward Zernial (June 27, 1923 – January 20, 2011) was an American professional baseball player. He played as an outfielder in Major League Baseball, most notably for the Philadelphia Athletics with whom he remained when they moved west and became the Kansas City Athletics in 1955. Nicknamed "Ozark Ike" after the popular comic strip character, Zernial was one of the most prolific power hitters of the 1950s, joining Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Larry Doby in the American League for most home runs in the decade.

An aggressive fielder, Zernial twice (1949 and 1954) broke his collarbone while making diving catches. He finished his career in Detroit, primarily as a pinch hitter, hitting .323 with 10 home runs in his new role. Zernial was a career .265 hitter (1093 for 4131) with 237 home runs, 776 RBI, 572 runs, 159 doubles, 22 triples, 15 stolen bases and 383 bases on balls in 1234 games. Zernial is featured in one of the most unusual baseball cards of all time. His 1952 Topps card shows Zernial holding a bat that has six baseballs attached to it. This photo recognized that he had tied an American League record by hitting six home runs in three consecutive games from May 13–16, 1951. The day after the picture was taken, he hit his seventh home run in a fourth consecutive game. Zernial has the third most home runs of all time among players whose last name begins with the letter Z. His 237 are third only to Todd Zeile who finished his career with 253 and Ryan Zimmerman who finished his career with 284. Zernial was the first player to hit three home runs in the final game of a season, a record equalled by Dick Allen in 1968 and Evan Longoria and Dan Johnson in 2012. In a postscript to his acclaim noted above as the "new DiMaggio", Zernial figured, coincidentally, in Joe DiMaggio meeting his legendary future wife Marilyn Monroe. The "handsome" young Zernial was chosen to pose with rising star Monroe in a movie studio publicity shot. DiMaggio was so struck by Marilyn in the photo, as well as so envious of Zernial's opportunity, that he asked the rival outfielder how to reach Marilyn.

When the Oakland Athletics played the Philadelphia Phillies for the first time in interleague play in June 2003 at Veterans Stadium, the Phillies invited former Philadelphia A's Eddie Joost and Zernial to the games and recognized them prior to the first game.

Zernial was diagnosed with cancer in 1990. He died on January 20, 2011, from complications related to congestive heart failure.