Joe Zdeb

Joseph Edmund Zdeb ( ; born June 27, 1953) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played all or part of three seasons in Major League Baseball with the Kansas City Royals from 1977 to 1979, primarily as a left fielder.

Early life Zdeb attended Maine South High School in Park Ridge, Illinois, where he played both baseball and football. A fullback, he signed a letter of intent to play football at the University of Missouri, with a promise that he would also be allowed to play baseball. However, when he was made the 4th round pick of the Kansas City Royals in the 1971 amateur draft,

In 1974, Zdeb returned to San Jose. In his first full season there, he batted .295. Over the next two seasons, he continued to move up the ladder, playing at Double-A Jacksonville in 1975 and AAA Omaha in 1976.

"Long hair" confrontation At some point, during minor league spring training, he showed up to camp with long hair, which was against team policy. Manager Joe Gordon refused to give him a uniform, so he approached general manager Lou Gorman, asking "Mr. Gorman, if I cut my hair, will I become a better ballplayer?" Gorman said he needed to cut it to properly represent the organization, and after initially refusing, he did so a couple days later.

Major leagues

Rookie season: 1977 After the 1976 season, the Royals traded their primary backup outfielder, Jim Wohlford, to the Milwaukee Brewers, opening up a spot for Zdeb. With the left-handed Dave Roberts on the mound for the Detroit Tigers on Opening Day, the right-handed hitting Zdeb wound up starting in left field in place of the left-handed hitting Tom Poquette. Zdeb went 1-for-4 with a run scored in his major league debut.

Zdeb and Poquette platooned over the rest of the season, and the rookie finished with what turned out to be a career high .297 batting average in 105 games. He also had career bests with 2 home runs and 23 RBI. In the 1977 American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees, Zdeb appeared in four of the five games, but failed to get a hit in nine at bats, although he did steal a base.

Later life and family Zdeb and his wife, Diane, have three children: Rachael, Joey and Josh. Rachael Zdeb attended Mississippi State University, where she was an outfielder for the school's softball team from 2011-2014.