Fortunate facial hair? Clay Zavada

Look, it’s well known that we here at UmpBump are generally against most types of facial hair.  And aside from the soul destroying soul patch, which has deservedly earned our collective undying enmity, the facial hair that perhaps most affronts our basic sense of human decency is the beardless mustache on a white male.

But then along comes Diamondbacks reliever Clay Zavada. What can you say when a ballplayer, and a reliever no less, so lovingly resurrects the twirly, waxed, handlebar moustache of the great Rollie Fingers? Five or even ten years after Fingers it would have been mere imitation, but 30 years on, when basically nobody else has the balls to put wax to ’stache? That is nothing less than a tribute.

Then you throw in the fact that his name is “Zavada,” which in combination with the curly mustache makes him more likely to be the leader of a family of trapeze artists called the “Flying Zavadas” than appearing on a major league pitching mound.

So, what can you say, really, other than, Awesome!

As the New York Times recently chronicled, Zavada has had quite a trying journey making it to the show. Along the way, he tried all manner of facial hair, including goatee, full-on beard, soul patch, the Casey Blake never-quite-shaven look. But then he finally goes with the Rollie Fingers approach ( having been first inspired to dare the mustache-without-beard look by  minor league teammate and UFH alum Josh Collmenter) and he finally sticks in the Major Leagues.

Coincidence? Obviously not.