Books and articles about Tom Zachary

Zachary, a solid starter for almost two decades, was the pitcher who gave up Babe Ruth's 60th home run of 1927. He broke in by winning two games for the A's in 1918, playing under the assumed name of Zach Walton to protect his college eligibility. The son of a minister, he went overseas with a Quaker Red Cross unit during WWI. He resumed his career with the Washington Senators, compiling an 85-82 record for them from 1920 through 1925, winning a high of 18 in 1921.

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Zachary helped Washington to the pennant with a 15-9 record in 1924. While ace Walter Johnson lost his two World Series starts to the Giants, Zachary won Games Two and Six. Traded to the Browns in 1926, he was back with Washington in 1927 when he allowed Ruth's 60th HR on September 30. (Walter Johnson pinch hit for Zachary in the ninth inning that day in what proved to be his last ML appearance.) He was waived to the Yankees in August 1928 and, as a surprise starter in Game Three of the WS, defeated the Cardinals 7-3. In 1929 he became the only major league pitcher to win as many as 12 games in a season without a defeat. (JK)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » July 10, 1920: After banging out 11 straight hits, Tris Speaker is stopped by Tom Zachary of Washington. It's the record until Pinky Higgins of the Red Sox racks up 12 in a row in 1938. Speaker will hit .388 for the season. » August 8, 1922: Tom Zachary and the Senators beat the Browns Dixie Davis, 3–1, cutting the St. Louis lead in the AL to a game. » October 5, 1924: A 2-run home run in the first by Goose Goslin and a solo blast by manager Bucky Harris in the 5th give Tom Zachary (15-9) a 3–0 lead. The Giants tie it in the 9th, but a double by Roger Peckinpaugh scores Joe Judge with the winning run in the bottom of the 9th. » October 9, 1924: Tom Zachary is touched for a run on two hits in the first, but scatters only five more hits and issues no passes the rest of the way. The Senators win 2–1. » May 17, 1925: Washington's lefty Tom Zachary throws the pitch that Cleveland's Tris Speaker socks for his 3,000th hit. Zachary still is victorious today, 2–1, over George Uhle. » September 19, 1925: In the 2nd game of a twinbill, the White Sox take a 15–0 lead against Washington after five innings, but Chicago P Ted Lyons will have to pitch to 18 different batters as Senators manager Bucky Harris juggles his lineup and sends in pinch hitters. With a no-hitter going, Lyons continues to bear down. Finally, with two out in the 9th, Washington's Bobby Veach gets a base hit to break the no-hitter. The final is 17-0 for Lyons with Tom Zachary taking the loss. Washington outfielder Sam Rice's streak of nine hits in a row is stopped, but he will end the season with 182 singles, an American League record until 1980. Washington takes the opener, 3–2, behind Dutch Ruether. » February 1, 1926: The Browns trade P Joe Bush and outfielder Jack Tobin to Washington for P Tom Zachary and Win Ballou, both of whom will be gone by July. Zachary will be back with the Senators next year in time to serve up Ruth's 60th home run. » June 15, 1927: At New York, St. Louis lefty Tom Zachary lasts just an inning in losing to New York, 8–1. Zachary serves up Ruth's 22nd homer, with Combs on and Lou Gehrig follows with his 15th. Waite Hoyt allows a solo homer to Schulte in winning. » July 7, 1927: The Senators trade righthander General Crowder to the Browns for southpaw Tom Zachary. » September 30, 1927: With the score 2-2 in the eighth, Mark Koenig triples and Ruth hits No. 60 off Tom Zachary for a 4-2 win. In the ninth Walter Johnson makes his final appearance as a player. He pinch-hits for Zachary and flies out to Ruth. Ruth hits 17 HRs in September, the highest month's HR output till Rudy York's 18 in August 1937. » August 23, 1928: The Yankees pick up lefty Tom Zachary on waivers from Washington. » October 7, 1928: Veteran Tom Zachary (3-3 with New York) gets a start against the Cards' Jesse Haines (20-8). Two infield hits followed by a triple give the Cards 2 runs. Lou Gehrig leads off the 2nd with a booming HR, and in the 4th the sharp-fielding Taylor Douthit misplays a single before a 2-run HR by Gehrig. Three runs in the 8th give New York a 6-3 lead that stands up when Zachary goes all the way for a 7-3 win. Ruth and Gehrig have 2 hits each, and Gehrig another 3 RBI. » May 7, 1929: Yankee southpaw Tom Zachary wins a 6–5 game in relief at St. Louis, the first of his 12 wins without a loss for the year, a ML record. No pitcher will have a better season without losing a game. His batterymate, rookie Bill Dickey, helps out with his first major league homer, off General Crowder. » August 4, 1929: The Yankees take the opening game of two from the visiting Cleveland Indians, winning 12–0. Tom Zachary wins his 7th straight. In the 2nd game, after trailing 6–5 with two out in the top of the 9th, Cleveland scores an American League record-tying nine runs, to win 14–6. » September 24, 1929: The Yankees' Tom Zachary wins his 12th without a loss 5-3 over Boston. His 12-0 season record will not be equaled. » September 7, 1931: Van Lingle Mungo, Uncle Robby's last find as a pitcher, reports to Brooklyn from Hartford and shuts out Boston 2–0 in his first start. He fans seven and hits a triple and a single to drive in both runs. Ancient Tom Zachary takes the loss. Brooklyn also took the opener, 5–4, in 10 innings on Fresco Thompson's RBI single. » September 17, 1937: Cleveland's Johnny Allen wins his 12th straight without a loss, equaling Tom Zachary's 1929 record of 12-0.