George Zuverink, born in Holland in 1924 and one of eight children of George and Jennie Zuverink, was a tall lanky kid who didn’t play baseball until his senior year of high school, but went on to a nine-year Major League Baseball career primarily as a relief pitcher. He often called it the best job in the world and quipped that the Star-Spangled Banner was his favorite song because they played if before games.
Zuverink said he was 0-7 in his senior year for Holland High in 1942 before heading off to serve in the U.S. Air Force in the South Pacific during World War II. He was pitching for an Air Force team when a St. Louis Cardinals scout saw him and eventually signed him to a contract after the war.
He spent six years pitching in the minor leagues before eventually making his MLB debut with the Cleveland Indians in 1951. Over most of the next nine years he was often one of the top relief pitchers in baseball, in and 1956 led the American League with 62 appearances, 16 saves and 40 games finished for the Baltimore Orioles. He had his career-best won-loss mark of 10-6 in 1957 when he had a 2.54 ERA and again led the league with 56 appearances and 37 games finished.
He pitched for Cleveland in 1951-52, was back in the minors in ’53, then pitched with the Detroit Tigers in 1954 and ’55 with a 9-18 record and finished out his career with the Orioles through ‘59. He appeared in 265 major league games with an overall record of 32-36 with 40 saves and a 3.54 ERA. He called his time with Detroit a dream come true. He had grown up in Holland listening to Tiger games on the radio. He is part of a difficult baseball trivia answer as being half of the only “Z” battery in MLB history with catcher Frank Zuppo in 1957.
After retiring from baseball, he worked in the insurance industry and umpired high school and college baseball, and volleyball while also taking up golf. He died in 2014 in Tempe, Ariz., at the age of 90.