Gus Zernial, the former major league slugger who settled in Clovis, CA after his 11-year career ended and became a sports broadcaster and one of the Fresno Grizzlies’ biggest advocates, died Thursday after a long illness. He was 87. Mr. Zernial died at a Fresno hospice care center from the effects of congestive heart failure, said his daughter, Lisa Pearlstein.

“When my dad passed away he had his entire family around him”, Pearlstein said. “For the past year he’d been in and out of the hospital quite a bit. But he fought the whole way.”

Nicknamed “Ozark Ike” during his playing days after a popular comic strip character and “Big Gus” around the central San Joaquin Valley for his burly 6-foot-2 frame, Mr. Zernial swatted 237 home runs and drove in 776 runs while playing outfield for the Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia/Kansas City Athletics and Detroit Tigers from 1949-59.

A one-time All Star, Mr. Zernial led the American League in home runs (33) and RBIs (129) in 1951 despite being traded from the White Sox to the A’s just four games into the season. He hit a career-high 42 homers for the A’s in 1953.

From 1950-57, no AL player, not even Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra or Ted Williams, slugged more home runs than Mr Zernial’s 220.

“Gus played against some big-time hitters but never got as much hoopla as those guys, mostly because his career only lasted 11 years and he never played in a big market,” said longtime friend Tom Sommers, a former minor league director for the California Angels, “but he was a terrific hitter.”

Mr. Zernial moved to Fresno in 1960 after retiring from baseball and in 1967 became sports director a KFRE. He broadcast Fresno state football, basketball and baseball games on TV and radio.

In the early 1990. while for the Fresno Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Zernial learned of an effort by the Fresno Diamond group, headed by John and Diane Carbray, to build a downtown stadium and bring a Triple-A baseball team to Fresno. He quickly jumped aboard.

“He just walked in the office one day and said, “Where’s my desk? I’m going to work for you,” John Carbray recalled, “I told him to pick out a table.

“He opened more doors in Fresno for me than I could imagine. He knew everyone and everybody like Big Gus.”

Added Diane Carbray, “We wouldn’t have gotten that stadium built without him.”

When the Grizzlies arrived in 1998, Mr. Zernial served as the team’s director of community relations and color commentator on radio broadcasts. He was a constant presence around Grizzlies Stadium, as the ballpark was then named, signing autographs and regaling anyone within earshot with stories from the playing days.

Mr. Zernial resigned from his position in 2004 after a team ownership change but returned three years later with the title of team ambassador. His responsibilities included speaking engagements and engaging with fans.

“Gus has been a part of the Grizzlies’ family dating back to its very beginning, “Grizzlies president Chris Cummings said in a statement. “His spirit and energy helped bring baseball back to Fresno, and we are eternally grateful for everything he has meant to this community. His positive impact cannot be understated.

“We will truly miss his vitality and his humor, both of which made this world a better place. The thoughts and prayers of everyone in the Grizzlies family go out to Gus’ family, friends and colleagues.”

Born June 27, 1923. in Beaumont, Texas, Mr. Zernial was the youngest of 10 children. In his 2007 autobiography “Ozark Ike,” he described playing sandlot baseball from morning till nightfall, using a broomstick when no bat was available.

Mr. Zernial was a three-sport star for Beaumont High and signed his first pro contract in 1941 at age 17 with the St. Louis cardinals,. During World War 11, he served 25 months in the Navy as a radio operator aboard five battleships stationed in the Pacific, according to The Baseball Biography project website.

Mr Zernial’s baseball career might have been even more prolific if not for two broken collarbones. Before the second injury, in 1954 he hit the last grand slam in Philadelphia A’s history.

In 1984, Mr. Zernial was inducted into the Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Philadelphia Wall of Fame in 2001 and named to the Philadelphia A’s All-Century team in 2002.

“It’s ironic that the heart problems finally took him because he had a heart as big as he was, if not bigger,” said longtime friend Rick Finley, who worked with Mr. Zernial with the Grizzlies. “I can’t fully describe him. He was an incredible friend.”

Ray Arthur