Born in Belleville, Illinois, he was a first baseman and left fielder who batted left-handed, threw right-handed, stood 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) tall and weighed 200 pounds (91 kg).

Zipfel was drafted into the United States Marine Corps soon after the 1961 baseball season but completed his service in time to rejoin the Senators at the end of spring training in 1962.

Bud Zipfel is best remembered for hitting the game-winning home run on September 12, 1962, where Tom Cheney set the Major League Baseball record for strikeouts in a regular-season game.

It was not until the bottom of the 16th inning that teammate Bud Zipfel hit the game-winning home run off Orioles pitcher Dick Hall giving the Senators a hard-fought 2–1 victory and Cheney a win and a major league record that still stands today.

To this day, Roger Clemens, Kerry Wood, and Max Scherzer have come threateningly close to Cheney's record, but all four have failed, each striking out 20 men in their respective 9-inning regulation games.