Jim Zapp, Negro League standout from Nashville, dies

Jim Zapp, a standout from Nashville and teammate of Willie Mays in the Negro Leagues, died Friday. He was 92.

Zapp, who attended a Catholic high school in Nashville that did not have a baseball team, started playing the game while serving in the Navy and stationed at Pearl Harbor.

After World War II ended, Zapp was signed by the Baltimore Elite Giants as an outfielder in 1945.

In 1946, Zapp returned to Nashville to play for the Nashville Cubs for one season and then played for the Atlanta Black Crackers in 1947.

After just one season in Atlanta, Zapp was signed by the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro American League, which is where he teamed up with Mays, a teenage rookie at the time.

Zapp and Mays helped lead Birmingham to the American League title in 1948.

The highlight of Zapp's career came in the playoffs that season when he hit the winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning in Game 3 against the Kansas City Monarchs.

The Black Barons went on to lose in the Negro League World Series in five games to the Homestead Grays.

Zapp returned to Nashville in 1949 and 1950 and played semipro ball.

During the latter part of the 1950 season, Baltimore re-signed Zapp. He retired from baseball in 1955.

Zapp then became the sports director of the Air Force's Civil Service Division in Big Springs, Texas. He retired in 1979.

A memorial service is planned for Oct. 11 at Lewis & Wright Funeral Home on Clarksville Highway. The time has not been determined.

Reach Mike Organ at 615-249-8021 and on Twitter @MikeOrganWriter.