We still love Zito. He is hot, talented, single and best of all – a former Trojan. That’s right. He once lived in a crappy apartment on 30th Street and ate from 99-cent tuna cans. Now with a $3-million salary, I guess you could say life has changed for Zito.The former Trojan baseball player exchanged his USC jersey for an Oakland Athletics jersey as the ninth overall pick in the 1999 draft. The left-handed pitcher soon won the Cy Young award, the most prestigious award a pitcher can receive.
Although he was only a Trojan for the 1999 season as a junior before leaving for the Big Leagues, Zito was an All-American, Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year and ranked fifth in the nation. He went 12-4 with a 3.28 ERA and had 154 strikeouts in 112 2/3 innings. “He was a spectacular performer,” said USC coach Mile Gillespie.
“He was an outstanding, premier, sensational pitcher. His commitment to his work was stellar. I mean the best. You come across athletes and you wish that this was the norm, but it’s abnormal.”
Zito was originally drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 59th round in 1996 and by the Texas Rangers in the third round in 1998, but in both drafts Zito decided to head to college instead. It couldn’t have been a better choice.
While Zito was back in Southern California for a game against the Angels, we decided to catch up with him and reminisce about his college days at USC. And although he may be a professional baseball player with stunning good looks and a brimming wallet, he’ll always be a Trojan.
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So how did you like it at SC, was it a good college experience?
I was at Santa Barbara. It is different being in the city, you know, than compared to the beach. I liked it because … it was different because it was a big school where as I was used to a smaller school. There is a lot of school spirit at ‘SC.
I know. We’re crazy. Do you ever plan on coming back to graduate like Mark Prior did?
Yeah, I plan on going back. I am pretty busy in the off-season, and it is important that I clear my mind. I commend Prior for doing what he did. But I want to go back and get my degree at ‘SC in biology whenever I’m done.
That’s cool. So is it different having a social life in the pros than compared to college life?
Yeah, it’s different because here baseball is like, your life, whereas at ‘SC it is something you do after you take your classes. But here you have to fill the void with something to do between the games.
Yeah, so did you ever go to the 9-0 when you were at SC?
The 9-0? Yeah, I went to the 9-0.
So you were a big fan of the 9-0?
Big fan of the 9-0.
Is there a game in college that sticks out in your mind at all?
Yeah, we lost the last game of the season 1-0 to Stanford and I gave up two hits and one of them basically was a fly ball and the center fielder lost it in the dust. And the next guy got a single and that was the difference of the game.
Do you still talk to anyone from your USC team? I know you have Justin Lehr here.
Yeah, Lehr’s here.
How’s that, having him on the team?
Yeah, it’s great. He was my catcher at Santa Barbara, too. So we knew each other from before. Let’s see, Justin Gemoll, he’s a guy who is in the minor leagues with the Kansas City Burros. We talk; we still keep in touch. And Josh Persell, another guy who works for my agent now. You know, a lot of the guys stay around baseball. I think Ron Flores is another guy who is actually in triple-A with us so I will be seeing him soon. So I keep in touch with a lot of them.
I read somewhere that you have in your cap written ‘fearless’ and ‘just be.’ So do you still write stuff in your cap?
Yeah, I’ve got some things written in there. They are more just mechanical things and little reminders. I think I was the only guy doing that in college but there are quite of few guys that I know now that will write reminders.
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In college, were they ever like, “Oh, I think he’s going to be big?”
No, not really. Everyone in college was just normal.
They said you always use to eat tuna. They said that you would just pop the can of tuna and people would be like, “What’s that smell?” So, you still do that?
Tuna out of the can. Yeah, I can afford more of the – you know, a little bit better food now. But back then it was like living off of 99-cent tuna cans.
Yeah, nothing like living off of 99-cent tuna. I also heard that you would Crip-walk sometimes. You still doing that?
Yeah, how does he know about that?
(laughs) No, that’s not something he said, that was someone else.
Oh really. Yeah, that is kind of a dance I learned at my girlfriend’s house at the time. She lived with this girl Kasha; she was a volleyball player and she had a bunch of friends over. They would be watching and this basketball player – she was teaching me how to Crip-walk. So that was fun, yeah.
Another funny thing he said was the time he first took you out on your recruiting trip. He said that you were the only player that he has ever taken that was cautious of the grams of protein versus fat versus carbohydrates and you ordered accordingly. He said that was before the Atkins diet, but you were the only player that had ever done that. So do you still care about that and are as crazy about that? Bring back memories?
See I don’t remember being that particular, but to hear it now – it is interesting. Yeah, I still try to eat good. I mean these clubhouses are basically like 7-Elevens. So it’s hard to eat good. But when you can only afford particular food, it is easy to eat right. Everything you can imagine is here so you’ve just got to fight temptations.
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