stolen bases and 383 bases on balls in 1234 games. Zernial is featured in one of the most unusual baseball cards of all time. His 1952 Topps card shows Zernial holding a bat that has six baseballs attached to it. This photo recognized that he had tied an American League record by hitting six home runs in three consecutive games from May 13–16, 1951. The day after the picture was taken, he hit his seventh home run in a fourth consecutive game. Zernial has the second most home runs of all time among players whose last name begins with the letter Z. His 237 are second only to Todd Zeile who finished his career with 253. Zernial was the first player to hit three home runs in the final game of a season, a record equalled by Dick Allen in 1968 and Evan Longoria and Dan Johnson in 2012. In a postscript to his acclaim noted above as the "new DiMaggio", Zernial figured, coincidentally, in Joe DiMaggio meeting his legendary future wife Marilyn Monroe. The "handsome" young Zernial was chosen to pose with rising star Monroe in a movie-studio publicity shot. DiMaggio was so struck by Marilyn in the photo, as well as so envious of Zernial's opportunity, that he asked the rival outfielder how to reach Marilyn. Later honors When the Oakland Athletics played the Philadelphia Phillies for the first time in interleague play in June 2003 at Veterans Stadium, the Phillies invited former Philadelphia A's Eddie Joost and Zernial to the games and recognized them prior to the first game. Death Zernial was diagnosed with cancer in 1990. He died on January 20, 2011, from complications related to congestive heart failure. See also List of Major League Baseball career home run leaders List of Major League Baseball annual home run leaders List of Major League Baseball annual runs batted in leaders Notes External links Gus Zernial - Baseballbiography.com Major League Baseball left fielders Chicago White Sox players Philadelphia Athletics players Kansas City Athletics players Detroit Tigers players American League All-Stars American League home run champions American League RBI champions Waycross Bears players Burlington Bees (Carolina League) players Hollywood Stars players Baltimore Orioles (IL) players Baseball players from Texas Sportspeople from Beaumont, Texas 1923 births 2011 deaths