George Zuverink

George Zuverink was a side-arming sinker-baller who topped the American League in relief appearances in consecutive years, including 1956, when he was retroactively recognized as the circuit’s saves leader.1 The righthander pitched parts of eight major league seasons. After breaking in with the Cleveland Indians (1951-1952), he hurled for the Cincinnati Redlegs (1954) and Detroit Tigers (1954-1955) before enjoying his greatest success with the Baltimore Orioles (1955-1959).

George Zuverink Jr. was born on August 20, 1924, in Holland, Michigan, “a picturesque city of old-world flavor” founded by Dutch Americans along Lake Macatawa in the western part of the state.2 One of Holland’s nicknames is “The Tulip City.” Another is the “City of Churches,” based on its numerous houses of worship. George was the fifth of George Sr. and Jennie (Wassenaar) Zuverink’s eight children, five boys and three girls. His mother and paternal grandparents were from the Netherlands. George, Sr. described himself as a carpenter in the 1930 Census, and later became a building inspector.

Zuverink’s parents and minister discouraged him from playing baseball. “They were strict with us on Sundays,” he recalled. “But my brothers and I liked baseball so much we’d wander over to our married sister’s house to listen to broadcasts of the Detroit Tigers.” His favorite player was All-Star pitcher Tommy Bridges. By the time George was 10, he was determined to climb the mound for the Tigers one day. “I wanted to pitch – real bad,” he described. “I had to play third base sometimes for the older fellows in my neighborhood, but every chance I got, I’d throw. We saved up nickels and dimes and brought my younger brother Kenneth a catcher’s mitt. I’d throw to him, or to my older brothers Ben and Gordon, in the yard in my spare time.”3

George was 13 when he saw his first major league game in Chicago. His mother sent him with Kenneth by train to visit their older sister in nursing school.4 Mostly, however, Zuverink watched the Holland Flying Dutchmen play at Riverview Park. In the 1930s and 1940s, the semipro Flying Dutchmen regularly hosted top-notch Negro League teams like the Kansas City Monarchs, Chicago American Giants and Birmingham Black Barons.5

At Holland High School, George made the varsity basketball team in his junior year, but he didn’t join the baseball squad until he was a 1942 senior.6 Tall and skinny – he was listed at 6-foot-4, 195 pounds as a pro – the blond, blue-eyed Zuverink posted an 0-7 pitching record.7 He was working at Holland Furnace when, with World War II escalating, he explained, “I was drafted at age 18 and chose the Army Air Corps over the Navy as I could not swim that well in case my ship was sunk.”8

Zuverink spent nearly two years of his 34-month hitch with the 93rd Airdrome Squadron in the Pacific Theater: in Australia, New Guinea, and the Philippines. “Our squadron took care of the planes behind the front lines. My job was driving gas and oil trucks for refueling,” he said. “I played a lot of volleyball, basketball and baseball to keep occupied.”9 A scout who saw Zuverink pitch in the Philippines recommended him to St. Louis Cardinals President Sam Breadon in a letter.10 Although there’s no record of the scout’s name, on a questionnaire that Zuverink filled out for the American Baseball Bureau in the spring of 1946, he named outfielder Vic Tetreault, a Cardinals’ farmhand who’d been in the service, as the person most responsible for his professional career. Under “ambition,” Zuverink wrote “to be the first major league player from Holland, Michigan.”1112

St. Louis sent Zuverink to the Fresno Cardinals in the Class-C California League. In 38 appearances, he hurled 17 complete games and logged 241 innings – more than any righthander in the circuit in 1946. His 11-13 record and 4.41 ERA were less impressive and, with 291 hits allowed and a dozen hit batsmen, he led the league in two dubious categories. The Cardinals released him. In November, Zuverink married Loraine “Beanie” (Hendricks) of Zeeland, Michigan, but his professional baseball career appeared to be over. He wrote letters to numerous teams but found no takers.13

In 1947, Zuverink joined the semipro Holland Flying Dutchmen club that he’d cheered for as a boy. He posted a perfect 13-0 record and struck out a record-breaking 138 batters versus only 13 walks.14 Sight unseen, the Cleveland Indians invited him to try out for their Spartanburg (South Carolina) Peaches affiliate in 1948. He made the team and went 18-12 with a 4.20 ERA in 45 appearances for the Class-B Tri-State League club. While the league’s managers rated Asheville’s Joe Landrum as the circuit’s top pitching prospect in a Charlotte News poll, both Zuverink and Charlotte’s Buzz Dozier generated strong support.15 That winter, Zuverink gained more experience with the Diablo Heights club in the (Panama) Canal Zone League.16

Cleveland promoted Zuverink to the Double-A Texas League in 1949. In 42 games (29 starts) for the Oklahoma City Indians, he produced a 16-7 (3.22 ERA) mark in 229 innings. The reward was his first invitation to a major league spring training in 1950. The Sporting News noted that his work earned a “high rating with [manager Lou] Boudreau and [GM Hank] Greenberg.”17 However, there was no room on an Indians pitching staff that would lead the American League in ERA for the third of four consecutive years. When Zuverink was farmed out, he was reportedly upset, believing that he was ready for the majors.18

Zuverink spent 1950 with the San Diego Padres in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. In 45 games (37 starts), he hurled 279 innings, including 15 complete games. He split his first 28 decisions despite a flaw in his delivery that caused him to tip his pitches. After San Diego skipper Del Baker helped him correct it, Zuverink won six straight games.19 On the final day of the season, he beat the Hollywood Stars to finish with a 20-14 record.20

In spring training 1951, Cleveland coach and Hall of Famer Red Ruffing remarked, “I was surprised to learn that Zuverink ever lost a game in the Coast league. I don’t know how anyone can hit his stuff.”21 Zuverink’s pitches weren’t easy to glove, either. New Indians manager Al López, a former big-league backstop for 19 seasons, insisted that Zuverink and Cleveland’s Bob Lemon were “two of the toughest men in the league for a catcher to handle.”22

Zuverink, a natural side-armer, couldn’t explain the secret to his heavy sinker. “The answer must lie somewhere in my wrist. Just before I let go of the ball, I must snap my wrist in a certain way to make it sink,” he said. “It’s something I have to keep working with to keep my touch…I have to strike a happy medium between wrist action and speed to get best results.”23 He debuted on April 21, 1951 at Cleveland Stadium, relieving Lemon with two outs and a runner on second in the seventh inning after the visiting St. Louis Browns scored five unearned runs to build an 8-1 advantage. Zuverink retired Bobby Young on a grounder to short for the final out of the inning. In the eighth, he allowed a run on a walk, a stolen base, and a hit. He caught Roy Sievers looking for his first strikeout. Although he spent the entire season in the majors, Zuverink pitched only 25 ⅓ innings, recording a 5.33 ERA without a decision. All 16 of his appearances came in Cleveland losses. Only two of the games occurred after the All-Star break as the Indians led the AL pennant race as late as mid-September before finishing second to the Yankees.

In 1952, Zuverink began another season in Cleveland’s bullpen, but he was demoted to the Triple-A American Association after one outing. Despite starting only 19 of his 37 appearances for the Indianapolis Indians, he led the team with a dozen complete games. His 12-11 overall mark included an August 21 defeat in Minnesota in which he no-hit the Millers through six innings before losing, 6-3.24

Zuverink returned to Indianapolis in 1953 and won both the club’s home and road openers under first-year skipper Birdie Tebbetts.25 In 33 games (22 starts), his record improved to 13-8. Meanwhile in the AL pennant race, Cleveland finished second for the third straight year, but Zuverink didn’t pitch at all in the majors. “I asked Hank Greenberg to sell me or trade me,” he said.26 On October 13, two weeks after the Redlegs hired Tebbetts to be their new manager, Zuverink was sold to the same club. “Zuverink is big, throws hard and still is young enough to make a major league pitcher,” Tebbetts said.27

After the Redlegs broke spring training camp in Tampa, Florida in 1954, Tebbetts said, “Our chief relievers now seem likely to be Frank] Smith, Zuverink, Jack] Crimian, Jackie] Collum and Willie] Powell, but that picture can change.”28 As it happened, Crimian and Powell never pitched for Cincinnati. Zuverink, on the other hand, made two appearances against the Cubs. After he allowed six runs on 10 hits in six innings, he was sold to the Detroit Tigers for $15,000 on April 26.29 “He was a big guy with a loose arm who can pitch day and night,” observed Detroit manager Fred Hutchinson. “What’s more, [GM] Muddy Ruel bought him because he knew him. Muddy was farm director for Cleveland when Zuverink was in the Indian files.”30

In his Tigers debut, Zuverink finished off a 12-inning, 2-1 victory over the Senators in Washington. His next five outings came in relief at Briggs Stadium in Detroit, wearing the uniform of the home team just as he’d dreamed as a boy. On May 26, Zuverink made his first major league start a success with a complete-game, 6-3 victory over the Orioles. He spent the remainder of the year in the Tigers’ rotation.

On June 5 at Fenway Park, Zuverink held Ted Williams to a 0-for-4 afternoon and twirled a three-hit, shutout victory over the Red Sox. Twelve days later in Detroit, he went the distance again to beat Boston, 2-1. Zuverink’s hometown of Holland wanted to hold a day in his honor at on July 5 at Briggs Stadium, but he declined, saying, “I could just see them giving me stuff at home plate and then sitting back to watch me get my ears knocked off.”31 Instead, he agreed to appear at a Flying Dutchmen contest a week later as his old semipro team’s guest of honor.

July 5, 1954 proved to be a memorable day for Zuverink, nevertheless. After 46,935 watched the Indians score 13 runs in improving their major league-best record to 53-22 in the opener of a doubleheader, Zuverink dueled rookie Don Mossi in the nightcap. Through 11 innings, Zuverink shut out Cleveland on three hits, starting inning-ending double plays in both the eighth and ninth. In the bottom of the eighth, Zuverink doubled and drew cheers with a hard slide into third base when he advanced on a fly out. Hutchinson let him bat again to lead off the bottom of the 11th. Although Zuverink whiffed, he nearly reached first base safely by hustling after a dropped third strike.32 The next batter, Harvey Kuenn, homered to win the game for Detroit, 1-0.

On August 7, Zuverink allowed a leadoff homer to Gil McDougald before settling down to throttle the Yankees, 3-1, on a five-hitter. “He kept them off balance with slow stuff,” observed Tigers coach Schoolboy Rowe. “That was some of the best pitching I’ve seen all year.”33 The victory improved Zuverink’s record to 7-6 with a 2.97 ERA. “Zuverink never had a real chance,” Hutchinson noted. “We were able to offer him one and he took advantage of it. By working regularly, his control improved.”34 In addition to starting, Zuverink earned a three-inning save in New York, pitched long relief in Washington and would record the final outs of victories in Chicago and Boston over the next few weeks. “I guess it was pretty obvious what kind of a pitcher I was trying to be,” Zuverink reflected later. “I was trying to start and pitch hard and also relieve whenever I could. So, I’d run out of gas after about seven innings.”35 He lost five straight decisions and finished ’54 with a 9-13 record and 3.59 ERA in 35 games (25 starts) for Detroit.

That offseason, Zuverink and his wife adopted an infant daughter, Dawn, and had her baptized at Sixth Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan.36 He earned extra money refereeing high school and college basketball games.37 Meanwhile, according to reports in The Sporting News, Yankees manager Casey Stengel wanted to acquire him.38 However, the Tigers intended to keep Zuverink, albeit in a different role. Bullpen coach Bob Swift noticed that the righthander “can warm up in just five pitches.”39 Detroit VP Charlie Gehringer said, “It could be that George Zuverink will go good in the bullpen. He gets the ball over and he’s a fighter.”40

In 1955, 13 of Zuverink’s 14 appearances for the Tigers were in relief but his record was a dismal 0-5 with a 6.99 ERA. On July 8, he was sold to the last-place Orioles for the waiver price of $10,000.41 On July 23 in Chicago, Zuverink started and lost his debut for his new team. Exactly one month later, he returned to Comiskey Park and hurled six innings for what proved to be his final major league victory as a starter. Outfielder Hoot Evers, a former Tiger, warned Baltimore manager Paul Richards that Zuverink “can throw hard but has a tendency to lose something after a few innings.”42 After he joined the Orioles, 23 of Zuverink’s 28 outings came out of the bullpen. In 86 ⅓ innings, he induced 14 double-play balls and pitched to an outstanding 2.19 ERA. “When I got with Richards and he told me I was to relieve exclusively, I liked the pattern,” he said. “It liked me, too.”43 Richards explained, “We widened his motion and helped him to get a better break on his slider. That’s about all. He’s always had a good arm and a desire to work.”44 In September, when Baltimore enjoyed its only winning month of the season and moved up to seventh place, Zuverink earned three wins and three saves.

The 1956 Orioles improved by 12 games and finished sixth with Zuverink playing a crucial role, especially early on. On May 19 in Detroit, he gloved a Bill Tuttle liner and doubled Al Kaline off first base to finish off a one-run triumph. At that point, he’d appeared in 18 of Baltimore’s first 30 contests, posted a 1.36 ERA and won or saved all but two of the Orioles 15 victories. Chuck Thompson, who broadcasts the Birds’ games with Ernie Harwell, renamed the Oriole bull pen the ‘Zoov-rink’,” reported The Sporting News.45 Between games of a June 3 doubleheader at Memorial Stadium, Zuverink was honored as the “Firemen’s Favorite Fireman” and presented with a helmet by the Maryland Firemen Association.46 Back home, his father had become a captain with the Holland Fire Department.

“George has the rare faculty of being oblivious to the result,” Richards observed. “What I mean by being oblivious to the result is that Zuverink never concerns himself about what may happen to us, or to him, if he doesn’t do the job…Maybe you could call it supreme confidence. I call it psychological genius.”47 Pitching coach Harry Brecheen described “Zinkerball Zoove’s” approach. “When Zoove goes into a game, he doesn’t mess around. He throws strikes. He’s the kind of fellow who’s going to find out whether the other guy can hit him or not.”48

“I used to build up tension sitting around home and waiting for my turn to pitch,” Zuverink recalled. “As a reliever, I found that I never get scared or nervous even though, when I go in, the situation is usually tense. I just crank up, walk in – and feel that I’m gonna get ‘em out.”49 Although his ERA swelled to 4.16 by year end, he led the league with 62 relief appearances, 40 games finished and –retroactively, after the statistic was adopted in 1969– 16 saves. After the season, he joined a barnstorming tour through his home state with the Virgil Trucks All-Stars. When major leaguers appeared in Fennville (20 miles from Holland) for the first time, about 1,400 fans turned out to cheer on Michiganders Zuverink and Charlie Maxwell.50

That winter, Zuverink bought a home near the Orioles’ spring training base in Scottsdale, Arizona. In 1957, he helped the franchise finish with a .500 record for the first time in a dozen years, going back to when they were still the St. Louis Browns. On July 1 against the Yankees, he formed part of the first battery in big league history with two “Z” surnames with 17-year-old rookie catcher Frank Zupo.51 Zuverink led the AL in appearances (56) and games finished (37) for the second straight season while going 10-6 with nine saves and a 2.48 ERA.

In 1958, Zuverink arrived at spring training with a golf ball-sized lump on his pitching arm. “Somehow, while playing with the dog on the floor, I banged my right elbow,” he explained. “Right on the point, too. A blood vessel broke, and a pocket of blood formed.”52 After two sessions with the team doctor to drain the fluid, he insisted that he was fine, but he wasn’t pleased with the Orioles’ plan to renew his contract for the same $14,000 salary.53 “I held out for two weeks to get a thousand dollar raise because they were paying guys right out of high school $100,000. That was ridiculous. I was leading the league in appearances. I didn’t think that was fair at all.”54

By June 8, Zuverink had a 2.22 ERA in 14 outings and his six saves were tied for second in the majors behind New York’s Ryne Duren. Never a strikeout pitcher (he averaged 3.1 strikeouts per nine innings in his career), his control was better than ever. He issued only eight unintentional walks in 48 2/3 first-half frames. When Baltimore hosted the All-Star Game on July 8, he was a batting practice pitcher for the American Leaguers.55 After the break, however, he worked only 20 1/3 innings, hitting four batters. “I threw a heavy ball, and when Richards wanted someone hit – really drilled– he’d bring me in,” he recalled.56

Zuverink began the 1959 season on the disabled list with a stiff shoulder. After he was activated on May 22, he made six appearances, walking six and striking out one in 13 innings. When Baltimore called up 20-year-old Jack Fisher on June 21, Zuverink was demoted to the Miami Marlins of the Triple-A International League. “I still think I can help a big-league club,” the 34-year-old insisted. “I need a chance to pitch myself back into form.”57 In 30 games (four starts), he went 3-4 with a 2.95 ERA. He was dropped from the Orioles’ 40-man roster after the season.

In 1960, Baltimore gave Zuverink permission to seek another major league employer. “I tried to get on with my friend [Washington manager] Cookie Lavagetto,” he explained. “But when he told me even the Senators have plenty of pitchers, I thought my chances were slim until the Giants gave me a chance.”58 Zuverink failed to crack San Francisco’s pitching staff and wound up with the Orioles’ Vancouver Mounties affiliate in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. After nine appearances with a 1-1 record and 4.50 ERA, he retired.

After baseball, Zuverink sold life insurance for Banker’s Life Nebraska for more than a quarter century. He officiated baseball, basketball and volleyball games in Arizona. In 1969, Zuverink was named MVP of the Valley of the Sun Slow Pitch Softball tournament and earned all-state honors playing first base for the National club.59 After divorcing, he married Betty (Jansma), a registered nurse, in 1971 and helped to raise her son Chris. Zuverink returned to Baltimore in 1991 to participate in the closing ceremonies at Memorial Stadium, where he was 11-6 with a 2.22 ERA in 97 appearances.60 Overall, in 265 major league games (31 starts), his record was 32-36 with 40 saves and a 3.54 ERA.

In 2009, Zuverink was inducted into the Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame.61 On September 8, 2014, he died in Tempe, Arizona. He was 90. His remains are buried at Green Acres Memorial Gardens in Scottsdale.

Acknowledgements

This biography was reviewed by Gregory H. Wolf and Bruce Harris and fact-checked by members of the SABR BioProject factchecking committee.

Sources

In addition to sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted www.ancestry.com, www.baseball-reference.com and www.retrosheet.org.

Notes

1 Major League Baseball did not adopt Saves as an official statistic until 1969.

2 Watson Spoelstra, “Discard Zuverink Rated $15,000 Bengal Bargain,” The Sporting News, July 14, 1954: 14.

3 James Ellis, “Zinkerball Zuve, the Orioles’ Fireman,” Baltimore Sun, July 22, 1956: 172.

4 “Volleys,” Holland Evening Sentinel, June 12, 1954: 8.

5 Scott Kaukonen “Flying Dutchmen Ballplayers See Game, Recall Old Times.” Grand Rapids (Michigan) Press, June 13, 1997: A1.

6 1942 Holland High School Yearbook.

7 Gary Bond, “Pitcher’s Career Took Off in WWII,” Grand Rapids Press, June 20, 2000: D3.

8 Gary Bedingfield, “Baseball in Wartime: George Zuverink,” https://www.baseballinwartime.com/player_biographies/zuverink_george.htm#:~:text=George%20Zuverink%20was%20born%20in,military%20service%20in%20March%201943 (last accessed May 15, 2021).

9 Bedingfield, “Baseball in Wartime: George Zuverink.”

10 “Top Sports Events to be Filmed,” The Sporting News, February 28, 1946: 16.

11 George Zuverink, American Baseball Bureau Questionnaire, March 28, 1946.

12 According to Baseball-Reference, Bill Morley, who appeared in two games for the 1913 Washington Senators, was the first major leaguer born in Holland, Michigan. Zuverink remains the most accomplished, however. As of 2021, pitcher Andy Van Hekken (five starts for the 2002 Detroit Tigers) is the only other big leaguer from the city.

13 Hy Hurwitz, “Zuverink Wrote Letters to Obtain Pitching Job,” Boston Globe, June 6, 1954: C46.

14 “Zuverink Gains Baseball Tryout,” Holland (Michigan) Evening Sentinel, March 20, 1948: 2.

15 Furman Bisher, “Landrum and Rose Rated Top Prospects in Tri-State,” The Sporting News, September 8, 1948: 33.

16 Leo Eberenz, “Panama Clubs Well Bunched in First Round,” The Sporting News, December 29, 1948: 25.

17 Hal Lebovitz, “Cleveland’s New Brooms Preparing to Clean House,” The Sporting News, February 8, 1950: 8.

18 Ed McAuley, “Hurling Hopefuls Give Lopez Eyeful,” The Sporting News, February 28, 1951: 17.

19 McAuley, “Hurling Hopefuls Give Lopez Eyeful.”

20 “San Diego,” The Sporting News, October 18, 1950: 26.

21 McAuley, “Hurling Hopefuls Give Lopez Eyeful.”

22 “Fans Letter Brings a Trial for Wakefield as Backstop,” The Sporting News, March 12, 1952: 4.

23 Ellis, “Zinkerball Zuve, the Orioles’ Fireman.”

24 “Indianapolis,” The Sporting News, September 3, 1952: 26.

25 “Indianapolis,” The Sporting News, May 6, 1953: 28.

26 Hurwitz, “Zuverink Wrote Letters to Obtain Pitching Job.”

27 “Redlegs Acquire Zuverink, Recommended by Tebbetts,” The Sporting News, October 21, 1953: 16.

28 Tom Swope, “Decision on Some Hurlers Depends on Showing in Final Exhibition Games,” The Sporting News, April 7, 1954: 20.

29 Watson Spoelstra, “Youngsters, Hurling and Gate all Breaking Well for Hutch,” The Sporting News, May 5, 1954: 15.

30 Hurwitz, “Zuverink Wrote Letters to Obtain Pitching Job.”

31 “Zuverink Vetoed ‘Day’, So Fans Missed Gem Vs. Tribe,” The Sporting News, July 21, 1954: 44.

32 Spoelstra, “Discard Zuverink Rated $15,000 Bengal Bargain.”

33 Watson Spoelstra, “Oldsters Bolster Bengals in Battle for First Division,” The Sporting News, August 18, 1954: 10.

34 Spoelstra, “Discard Zuverink Rated $15,000 Bengal Bargain.”

35 Franklin Lewis, “Most Happy Fella –George Zuverink,” The Sporting News, March 19, 1958: 34.

36 “Volleys,” Holland Evening Sentinel, November 22, 1954: 15.

37 Ellis, “Zinkerball Zuve, the Orioles’ Fireman.”

38 Dan Daniel, “Weiss Clears Yank Decks, Paving Way for Swap Sessions,” The Sporting News, October 27, 1954: 11.

39 Spoelstra, “Oldsters Bolster Bengals in Battle for First Division.”

40 Watson Spoelstra, “Tigers Put on Spot –as High as Third—in Starting Sizeups,” The Sporting News, March 2, 1955: 11.

41 Jesse A. Linthicum, “Fireman Zuverink Figures in 9 of 10 Oriole Triumphs,” The Sporting News, May 16, 1956: 11.

42 Jim Ellis, “Hats Off…!” The Sporting News, June 13, 1956: 27.

43 Lewis, “Most Happy Fella –George Zuverink.”

44 “Burned by Slur, Zuverink Determined to Show Bucky,” The Sporting News, May 16, 1956: 11.

45 Oscar Ruhl, “From the Ruhl Book,” The Sporting News, May 23, 1956: 14.

46 Jim Ellis, “Bird Seed,” The Sporting News, May 30, 1956: 7.

47 Lou Hatter, “‘Genius’ Tag for Zuverink,” Baltimore Sun, June 19, 1957: S21.

48 Jim Ellis, “Hats Off…!” The Sporting News, August 7, 1957: 25.

49 Jim Ellis, “Zoove Happier Family Man as Fireman – Less Pressure,” The Sporting News, June 27, 1956: 25.

50 “Trucks’ Stars Tied by Kalamazoo Club,” The Sporting News, October 24, 1956: 24.

51 Peter Corbett, “A Big Hit,” Arizona Republic (Phoenix), February 8, 2008: B1.

52 Lewis, “Most Happy Fella –George Zuverink.”

53 Lou Hatter, “3-Hour Drill Speeds Up Oriole Training,” Baltimore Sun, February 21, 1958: S23.

54 John Eisenberg, From 33rd Street to Camden Yards (New York: Contemporary Books, 2001), 78.

55 “Zuverink to Hurl Batting Practice,” Holland Evening Sentinel, June 30, 1958: 7.

56 Eisenberg, From 33rd Street to Camden Yards: 27.

57 Jim Ellis, “MacPhail Brings Up Young Fast-baller from Miami; Options George Zuverink,” The Sporting News, July 1, 1959: 14.

58 “Young Maranda, Vet Zuverink Strong Candidates for Jobs on Giant Hill Staff,” The Sporting News, March 30, 1960: 16.

59 “George Zuverink Named MVP in Softball Tourney,” Holland Evening Sentinel, September 11, 1969: 15.

60 Bond, “Pitcher’s Career Took Off in WWII.”

61 “George Zuverink, Baseball,” https://www.grshof.com/george-zuverink.html (last accessed May 18, 2021).