Adrián Zabala

Adrián Zabala Rodriguez

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 11", Weight 165 lb.

• Debut August 11, 1945
• Final Game September 24, 1949
• Born August 26, 1916 in San Antonio De Los Banos, Cuba
• Died January 4, 2002 in Jacksonville, FL USA

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Biographical Information

Adrian Zabala was up in the majors with the New York Giants in 1945 and 1949, appearing in 26 games.

Zabala was born in Cuba, one of five future major leaguers born there in 1916. He was 1-0 for the Cuban national team that won the Gold at the 1935 Central American and Caribbean Games. By 1937 he was pitching in the minors in the U.S., and over his minor league career had 185 victories. He won 20 for Jacksonville in 1941.

He could also hit in the minors, with a lifetime .273 batting average. With Minneapolis in 1951 he hit .375 (in 64 at-bats).

Zabala was two weeks short of his 29th birthday when he made his major league debut for manager Mel Ott. He was the same age as teammate Sal Maglie, who was also a rookie that year.

The book Voices from the Pastime by Nick Wilson has some oral history from Zabala, who says he was on an amateur team at age 13, and began to pitch professionally in Cuba in 1935. He played for or with some of the all-time greats, including Martin Dihigo and Rafael Almeida.