Don Zimmer

At 83 years old, Don Zimmer has this physical status:

Playing career

In addition, Zimmer was dubbed "Zim," "Gerbil," and occasionally "Popeye" in Cuba, as well as "El Soldadito" (The little soldier) in Mexico and Puerto Rico, and occasionally "Popeye."

Zimmer began his career in 1949 with the Cambridge Dodgers of the Class-D Eastern Shore League. In 1950, he appeared for the Hornell Dodgers of the Class-D PONY League, the Elmira Pioneers of the Single-A Southern League in 1951, the Mobile Bears of the Double-A Southern League in 1952, and the St. Paul Saints of the Triple-A American Association in 1953 and 1954. Zimmer made his major league debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1954, almost entirely as a utility infielder. Easily, he appeared for the 1955 World Series champion Brooklyn Dodgers as well as the 1962 New York Mets, who lost a record 120 games.

Zimmer played winter ball in Puerto Rico immediately after his rookie season, emerging as a Golden Horse 1955 Caribbean Series MVP on the heavy-hitting 1954-1955 Cangrejeros de Santurce club operated by Herman Franks. El Escuadrón del Pánico, a Nicknamed "indicted" (lit. Future Hall-of-Famers Willie and Roberto Clemente, future All-Stars George Crowe and Sam Jones, local hero Luis Olmo, as well as Negro leagues actors Bob Thurman and Buster Clarkson appeared on "The Panic Squad." Zimmer later described it as "probably the finest winter league baseball team ever assembled."

Zimmer almost died after being struck in the temple with a pitch when he was with St. Paul in 1953. He was not fully awake for 13 days, after which holes were drilled in his skull to relieve the pressure of swelling. His vision had been blurred, he could neither walk nor talk, and his body had decreased from 170 to 124. He was told that his career ended at the age of 22; however, the following year, Zimmer made it to the Major Leagues.

In 1956, Zimmer was beaned again after a fastball throw by Cincinnati Reds pitcher Hal Jeffcoat broke his cheekbone and almost resulted in a detached retina, but he continued. Because of these injuries, it was often reported that he had a surgically implanted steel plate in his head. This was inaccurate, although the holes drilled in the surgeries following the 1953 beanball were later filled with four tantalum metal corkscrew-shaped "buttons."

Zimmer remained with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the major leagues after they migrated west in 1958. In 1960, the Dodgers traded Zimmer to the Chicago Cubs for Johnny Goryl, Ron Perranoski, Lee Handley, and $25,000. The expansion New York Mets selected Zimmer from the Cubs as the fifth pick in the premium phase of the 1961 Major League Baseball expansion draft, costing the Mets $125,000. Cliff Cook and Bob Miller traded Zimmer to the Cincinnati Reds in May 1962. In 1963, he returned to the Dodgers for Scott Breeden, who was traded to the Dodgers for Scott Breeden. In June 1963, the Washington Senators purchased Zimmer from the Dodgers. Zimmer was released by the Senators after the 1965 season and he appeared for the Toei Flyers of Nippon Professional Baseball in 1966.

Zimmer played 1,095 games in 12 seasons. He had 773 hits, 352 RBI, 45 stolen bases, and a.235 batting average. He competed in the World Series with the Dodgers in 1955 and 1959, and in 1961, he was selected to the National League All-Star team. Despite his low batting average, Zimmer was regarded as a good infielder who was able to fill in at third base, shortstop, and second base. In his last season with Washington in 1965, he played 33 games.

Coaching and managing career

Zimmer played for the Cincinnati Reds in 1967, 1967, and Triple-A Buffalo Bisons in 1966. He left the Reds' organization for the expansion of San Diego Padres in 1969, piloting the Class-A Key West Padres before moving to the Triple-A Salt Lake City Bees in 1970.

He joined the Montreal Expos as a third-base coach in 1971, under former Dodger Gene Mauch's guidance. He spent a year with Mauch before returning to the Padres to take up a similar role in 1972. However, after only 11 games, he was told to replace Preston Gómez as San Diego's skipper on April 27. Zimmer, now 41, was given his first managerial job in the major leagues.

Zimmer set a record of 54-88 for the remainder of 1972, then ran a 60–102 record in 1973, with each season finishing last in the National League West Division. C. Arnholdt Smith, the team's founding majority owner, was forced to sell the team amid rumors that it will move to Washington, D.C., due to the Padres' attendance woes. Zimmer and the majority of the coaching staff were fired after new owner Ray Kroc took the team.

He was then hired as the Boston Red Sox's third base coach, with 212 seasons. During Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, Zimmer's tenure included a memorable appearance. In the home half of the ninth innings, Boston had the bases loaded and no one out. The score was tied. Denny Doyle, a soft fly to left field, was too shallow to score the winning run, but baserunner Denny Doyle was taken by Zimmer's shouts of "No!"

No!

No!"

were actually "Go!

Go!

Go!"

He ran for home but was kicked out at the plate. Carlton Fisk's classic, game-winning home run was set up by the play and Dwight Evans' brilliant catch off Joe Morgan in extra innings.

Under Johnson, who was fired by Zimmer as boss on July 19, the 1976 Red Sox never recovered. He led them to a winning run but they came in third place in the AL East for the third time. The Red Sox would win more than 90 games in each of Zimmer's three seasons (1977-1979), the second time they had pulled off this feat after World War I. His 1978 squad won 99 games, the fourth-best record in franchise history.

However, he is best remembered among Red Sox fans for the team's historic demise in 1978. The Red Sox stumbled in August after leading the Yankees by as many as 14 games. By early September, the lead had been reduced to four games. In a four-game series against the burgeoning New York Yankees that is also known as "the Boston Massacre," the lead evaporated.

The Red Sox were in first place with the Yankees for the first month of the season, prompting a one-game playoff on October 2. The Yankees took the lead on a home run by Bucky Dent over Fenway Park's Green Monster in that game.

Several questionable employee moves were made during this stretch. Bill "Spaceman" Lee, a left-handed starting pitcher, never got along with him. The feeling was mutual; Lee referred to Zimmer as "The Gerbil." Zimmer's outright hatred of Lee grew so deep that he gave the starting assignment in the last game of the "Massacre" to rookie Bobby Sprowl, who had only been called up from Triple-A Pawtucket a few days earlier. Carl Yastrzemski pleaded with Zimmer to start Lee, who, alongside Luis Tiant, had dominated the Yankees for their careers. (Lee, for example, won 12 out of 17 decisions against the Yankees in ten years as Boston's mayor.) In the first inning, Sprowl allowed four walks, one hit, and one run before being suspended and making only three more major-league starts.

Also started Fisk, the team's long-running starting catcher, 154 times (out of a potential 162), which is a lot of workload for a catcher. Fisk screamed of sore knees for a long time, and he missed much of the season due to a sore arm. And, of course, Zimmerman Butch Hobson stayed in the lineup, despite Hobson's elbow injuries (he had floating bone chips, which he often rearranged before coming to the plate) making it impossible for him to hit for power or average or throw accurately. Hobson made 18 errors between August and September 1978 (and a season-best 43 errors, resulting in an embarrassing.899 fielding percentage). Finally, Zimmer called on Jack Brohamer to replace Hobson on September 23; with Brohamer in third, Boston defeated the Yankees in their last eight games of the regular season, but the Red Sox lost the playoff game on home runs by Dent and Reggie Jackson.

The Texas Rangers were next in charge of Zimmer. He spent less than two years in the company, but owner Eddie Chiles' dismissal was a different one. Zimmer was shot on a Monday morning but the team was able to continue on Wednesday's game before being replaced by Darrell Johnson. Chiles denied firing Zimmer for "personal reasons" but refused to go into detail.

Zimmer coached three stints with the Yankees (1983, 1986, 1996, 2003–2003), then coached for the San Francisco Giants in 1987. Zimmer spent time with the Chicago Cubs from 1984 to 1986. He led the Cubs to a division championship in 1989 and was named Manager of the Year. After a slow start to the 1991 season, he was fired as Cubs boss. He returned to Boston as a mentor after 1992 under Hobson's leadership. In total, Zimmer played 906 Major League games as a manager.

In 1993, Zimmer was on the first coaching staff of the Colorado Rockies and coached until she was forced to leave without alerting manager Don Baylor, who was en route to a game in the 1995 season. He was angry that Baylor had become close to Art Howe, who was recruited to the Rockies coaching staff in 1995.

He joined the Yankees as their bench coach for their run to four World Series titles in 1996. When Joe Torre was recovering from prostate cancer surgery, he was in 1999. During Torre's absence, Zimmer went 21–15 while leading the Yankees. (This achievement, on the other hand, is credited to Torre's leadership).

In 1999, Yankee second baseman Chuck Knoblauch struck Zimmer hard by a fast-ball batted by him. Zimmer wore an army helmet with the word "ZIM" painted on the side and the Yankees logo stenciled on the front, which was given to him by Michael Patti, a Madison Avenue advertising executive. This resulted in the installation of railed fencing in front of Yankee Stadium's dugouts, which later became commonplace at all ballparks. When he ran at Martinez and Martinez threw him to the ground, Zimmer was involved in a brawl with Pedro Martez in the 2003 American League Championship Series. Zimmer apologised for the altercation and apologized to his family and the Yankees team, but claimed Martnez was "one of the most unprofessional players" he had ever encountered.

From 2004 to 2014, Zimmer served as a senior advisor for the Tampa Bay Rays. He was instrumental in the team's spring training and home games. Zimmer's uniform number increased by one year to match the number of years he has played in baseball. He wore #66 during the 2014 season. (In 2014, long-serving Tampa Bay third base coach Tom Foley embroidered Zimmer's name and number on the back of his own uniform in honor.) Zimmer said he never received a paycheck from baseball, and that he never had a job in any other occupation.

Zim: A Baseball Life and The Zen of Zim, two books that detail his involvement in baseball as a player, boss, and coach.

Zimmer was one of the few former Brooklyn Dodgers (along with pitcher Don Newcombe and Tommy Lasorda) who died in baseball in any capacity from the 2008 season to his death (along with announcer Vin Scully). Zimmer also served as a member of the Baseball Assistance Team, a 501(c)(3) non-profit group dedicated to assisting former Major League, Minor League, and Negro league players in times of financial and medical challenges.

The Rays announced on March 24, 2015, that they were renaming number 66 in honor of Zimmer.

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