I managed to get nearly all of my 1953 Topps cards scanned in before the scanner kicked the bucket, so this will give me a good chance to make some headway on this project...
Today's card is #181 in the set, Al Zarilla of the Boston Red Sox. Allen Lee Zarilla played a total of ten seasons with the St. Louis Browns, Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox, and apparently liked to wear his hat quite high! He was a decent line drive hitter who enjoyed two seasons with a .300+ batting average. The first came in 1948, where he hit .329 with 12 HR and 74 RBI in what was definitely his career year. He was named an All-Star for the only time during that 1948 season. Zarilla topped .300 again in 1950, when he and teammates Ted Williams and Dom DiMaggio formed the "all-.300" Boston outfield. Believe it or not he had a better batting average than the Splendid Splinter did that year!
1953 was the end of the road for Al, as he appeared in his final MLB game on September 26th of that year for Boston. From what I can tell, Zarilla didn't stay involved in professional baseball after his playing days were done. He passed away in Hawaii in 1996, at the age of 77 years old.
Set Progress: 46 of 274 (17%)
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