Gotta Love The 'Stache

Clay Pflibson Zavada is not exactly a household name. And his mustache isn't exactly one you see every day either. But his story is two-fold: there is the mustache, but the story of the man is equally compelling as well.

The New Times of Broward-Palm Beach describes his first outing (H/T Jorge Says No for the article and the picture): "It's the worst kind of brutality: swift, unforgiving, and ushered in by a waxed, turned, well-spun piece of man hair. If you didn't see it [May 21st], the Marlins lost to the Diamondbacks 4-3. And the winning pitcher only appeared in the seventh inning. It was also his first time to pitch in the big leagues. Most notable though, was the man's incredible facial hair. That's right, Clay Zavada rocks the Rollie Fingers-esque handlebar womb broom...It seems this fantastic 'stache symbolizes something bigger than baseball--something about the perseverance of the blue collar American, and all his facial fuzziness."

As that article seems to suggest, there is something more to the mustache than just hair; something about the man as well. Well, as the New York Times wrote back in December, the 24-year-old Zavada lost his father in December 2006 following his first year of professional baseball. So he gave up baseball for a time to tend to the family farm in Streator, Illinois (practicing by throwing to the assistant principal of his old high school), before he returned to the Arizona Diamondback organization in 2008. But the road back was not as easy at it seems:

"Zavada’s mother, Linda, had died when he was 3; his older brother, Dustin, was serving in the Navy. Suddenly, [after his father's death] Zavada found himself responsible for looking after his family’s property, a mix of farmland and forest that was his father’s pride and joy. 'That’s when the wheels kind of came off the track,' Zavada said. 'He was my life. My brother and him, that’s all we were. The three of us.' Zavada failed to report to spring training in 2007 and lost touch with the Diamondbacks, who dropped his contract later in the summer...That fall, Zavada decided to honor his father’s wishes by completing his bachelor’s degree at Edwardsville. He also took a part-time job delivering furniture"

At that point he was pretty much done with baseball until a friend urged him to try out for an independent league team. Although he started slow, he soon got his momentum back, was resigned again by the Diamondbacks and started his unlikely journey to the big leagues.

But after being called up from AA, he's been lights out. Zero runs in 6 appearances, 5 innings pitched with only 3 hits and zero walks to 7 Ks. He has a win and two holds and looks like he could be sticking with this team for a long time to come. His 'stache has been seen on all over ESPN's programming from Baseball Tonight to First Take (video below where they talk about his "Lip Sweater")

“You got to do what you got to do,” Zavada said in that New York Times article. “It’s how I grew up, you know. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

And because of who he is (and what he looks like), we here at No, You're A Towel have decided to sponsor our first Baseball-Reference page for Clay Zavada. Let's hope him and his mustache have a long and distinguished career in major league baseball.