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Smash 'stache: Zavada's look a hit

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By Steve Gilbert / MLB.com

05/28/09 9:59 PM ET

PHOENIX -- Clay Zavada has no doubt why he has received so much national attention since making his Major League debut last week.

"It's the mustache, man, I'm telling you," the D-backs left-hander said. "Relief pitchers don't get this kind of attention."

That may be true, but Zavada also has a compelling personal story. The 24-year-old lost his father in December 2006 following his first year of pro ball, and he gave up baseball for a time to tend to the family farm in Streator, Ill., before returning to the organization in 2008.

It has been suggested to Zavada that his story might be the reason he gets so much attention these days.

"Nah," Zavada said. "Some people don't know my story, they just see the 'stache. That's the first thing people ask me about. Then maybe they get into the story, but it's the 'stache."

Zavada's debut was chronicled in the New York Times and he appeared on ESPN's First Take along with numerous local radio shows.

"First thing they asked me about?" Zavada said of the ESPN interview. "The 'stache. There's a fascination with it right now for whatever reason."

In four appearances since being called up from Double-A Mobile, Zavada has not allowed a run in three innings.

Zavada started growing the mustache last year at the urging of his then-roommate and fellow pitcher Josh Collmenter. Recently he's begun to twist the ends so that it has begun to look like Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers' handlebar mustache.

"It's amazing," Zavada said of the attention. "People either hate it or they love it. There's no in between. There's a fascination with it right now for whatever reason. If I had played back in the '70s, I would have been a normal dude. I would have been just another dude with a weird 'stache. Now I'm unique. Now, it's like, 'Wow this guy has a 'stache, what the heck is he thinking?'

"It's all good. If it brings a smile to people's face, I'm good with that."

Steve Gilbert is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.