Help building the largest human-edited directory of the web Suggest URL - Open Directory Project - Become an editor

directopedia.org uses links and structure from dmoz Open Directory Project.
The contents has been generating using technology developed by scientec.

Barry William Zito (born May 13, 1978, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA) is a pitcher with the Oakland Athletics baseball club.

Barry attended University High School in San Diego, where he began surfing. He would go on to attend the University of California at Santa Barbara and, subsequently, 1998 NCAA baseball champion USC.

In 2002, he won the Cy Young Award for outstanding pitcher in the American League. A left hander, Zito throws a 90 mph fastball, a changeup and an excellent curveball (whose nicknames include "Captain Hook", "Rip-Curl" and "Bert") that has drawn comparisons to those of Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax. In 2005, he added a strong slider, or "slurve," to his pitch arsenal.

Zito — whose hobbies include yoga, rock guitar and surfing — is known for his idiosyncrasies. Zito created the charity Strikeouts for Troops to which he donates $100 for every strikeout he throws to hospitals for soldiers wounded in military operations.

Zito's personality has made him a media favorite. He once made it a practice to buy his own autographed baseball cards on eBay; when asked why he bought them at auction for high prices rather than acquiring unsigned cards and signing them himself, Zito replied, "Because they're authenticated." In addition, Zito carries satin pillows on the road, collects stuffed animals, once dyed his hair blue, and burns incense to relax. He has since earned the nickname "Planet Zito."

Zito is the nephew of television actor Patrick Duffy. He once made an appearance in a JAG episode.

Statistics

• Entering the 2005 season, Zito had thrown 981 innings, with 774 strikeouts with only 372 walks and a 72-40 record.
• When he won the Cy Young in 2002, he went 23-5 with a 2.75 ERA, and 182 strikeouts.
• In 2005, Zito had a streak of 14 consecutive starts and 20 out of 21 in which he gave up fewer hits than innings pitched.

External links

• Barry Zito's career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com
• ESPN.com: Barry Zito
• Strikeouts For Troops

Preceded by: Roger Clemens

American League Cy Young Award 2002

Succeeded by: Roy Halladay

This article is based on the article "Barry Zito" from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License. Here you find the list of authors of this article. The article can only edited within Wikipedia. Edit this article in Wikipedia.