Tom Zachary

American baseball player

Jonathan Thompson Walton Zachary (c. May 7, 1896 – January 24, 1969) was an American professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball for 19 seasons. A left handed pitcher, he spent most of his early career playing for the Washington Senators, with whom he won the 1924 World Series. He is well known for surrendering Babe Ruth's historic 60th home run in 1927, and he would become Ruth's teammate the following season. Over the course of his career, he also played for the Philadelphia A's, St. Louis Browns, New York Yankees, Boston Braves, Brooklyn Dodgers, and Philadelphia Phillies.

Tom Zachary was born on May 7, 1896, in the village of Saxapahaw, near Graham, North Carolina. He was born into a family of Quaker farmers, the seventh of eleven children born to Alfred L. Zachary and Mary Elvira Guthrie Zachary. He attended Guilford College, where he was a pitcher and outfielder on the baseball team, and served as team captain. Zachary's most notable collegiate game was on April 16, 1918, when he was matched against North Carolina State College's ace and future major leaguer George Murray. The game was called at 0 0 after sixteen innings; Murray struck out 20 batters to Zachary's 14. In his first season with the Senators, he appeared in 17 games (starting 7), and went 1 5 with a 2.92 ERA. In 1924, Zachary went 15 9 with a 2.75 ERA in 202.2 innings pitched. He helped pitch the Senators to the World Series, where they faced John McGraw's New York Giants. As the Senators' number two starter (behind Walter Johnson), Zachary started Games 2 and 6 of the Series, winning both. His performance in Game 6 was crucial in forcing a Game 7, which the Senators won behind Walter Johnson to take the Series.