Don Zimmer

Don Zimmer
Zimmer in 2009.
Tampa Bay Rays — No. 63
Infielder / Manager / Coach
Born: January 17, 1931 (1931-01-17) (age 80) Cincinnati, Ohio
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
July 2, 1954 for the Brooklyn Dodgers
Last MLB appearance
October 2, 1965 for the Washington Senators
Career statistics
Batting average	.235
Home runs	91
Runs batted in	352
Teams
As Player Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers (1954–1959) Chicago Cubs (1960–1961) New York Mets (1962) Cincinnati Reds (1962) Los Angeles Dodgers (1963) Washington Senators (1963–1965) Toei Flyers (1966) (NPB) As Manager San Diego Padres (1972–1973) Boston Red Sox (1976–1980) Texas Rangers (1981–1982) Chicago Cubs (1988–1991) New York Yankees (1999) (as interim) As Coach Montreal Expos (1971) San Diego Padres (1972) Boston Red Sox (1974–1976) New York Yankees (1983) Chicago Cubs (1984–1986) New York Yankees (1986) San Francisco Giants (1987) Boston Red Sox (1992) Colorado Rockies (1993–1995) New York Yankees (1996–2003) Tampa Bay Devil Rays/Rays (2004–present)
Career highlights and awards
6x World Series champion (1955, 1959, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000) All-Star selection (1961) 1989 NL Manager of the Year

Donald William "Popeye" Zimmer (born January 17, 1931, in Cincinnati, Ohio) is a former infielder, manager, and coach in Major League Baseball, currently serving as a senior advisor to the Tampa Bay Rays baseball organization. In December 2008, he suffered a stroke, causing loss of speech for a week.^[1]

Playing career

Zimmer, nicknamed "Zim" and sometimes "Popeye" because of his facial resemblance to the cartoon character,^[2] began his career in 1949 at Cambridge of the (Maryland) Eastern Shore League. He then played in Hornell, New York, Elmira, New York, Mobile, Alabama, and finally St. Paul, Minnesota before making it to the Major Leagues with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1954. At home plate before an Elmira night game in 1951 Zimmer married Soot (Jean), the girl he started dating in 10th grade. Beginning in 1954, his career included 12 seasons in the big leagues. He was a utility infielder with a great team, the 1955 World Series champion Brooklyn Dodgers, and with the 1962 New York Mets, who lost a record 120 games. Zimmer's rise to the Major Leagues was amazing considering he nearly died after being hit with a pitch in the temple while with St. Paul in 1953. He was not fully conscious for 13 days, during which holes were drilled in his skull to relieve the pressure of swelling. His vision was blurred, he could neither walk nor talk and his weight plunged from 170 to 124. He was told he was finished at 22. He was beaned again in 1956 when a Cincinnati Reds fastball broke his cheekbone, but he persevered. Because of these beanings, it has been widely reported that he had a surgically implanted steel plate in his head.^[3] This rumor is false, although the holes drilled in the surgeries following the 1953 beanball were later filled with four tantalum metal corkscrew-shaped "buttons."^[4]

Zimmer shaving in an old commercial for Gillette Razors.

In the major leagues, Zimmer remained with the Los Angeles Dodgers after their move west in 1958, then playing for the Chicago Cubs, the first New York Mets team in 1962, and the Cincinnati Reds; he returned briefly to the Dodgers in 1963, before finishing his career with the Washington Senators.

In 12 seasons, Zimmer played 1095 games. He compiled 773 hits, 91 home runs, 352 RBI, 45 stolen bases and a .235 batting average. He played in the World Series with the Dodgers in 1955 and 1959, and was selected to the National League All-Star team in 1961.

Although he had a low batting average, Zimmer was a fine infielder, willing to fill in at third base, shortstop, and second base. He also caught 33 games in his final season with Washington in 1965. In 1966, his last year as an active player, Zimmer played in Japan with the Toei Flyers.

Coaching and managing career

After his retirement, Zimmer managed in the minor leagues until 1971 when he joined the Montreal Expos as third base coach. He took a similar job with the San Diego Padres in 1972, but after only 11 games he was called on to replace Preston Gomez as manager.

After being fired by the Padres at the close of the 1973 campaign, he served as the third-base coach for the Boston Red Sox for 2½ seasons. Working under skipper Darrell Johnson, Zimmer's tenure included a memorable event during Game 6 of the 1975 World Series. Boston had the bases loaded and none out in the home half of the ninth inning. The score was tied. A soft fly to left field was too shallow to score the winning run, but baserunner Denny Doyle thought Zimmer's shouts of "No! No! No!" were actually "Go! Go! Go!" He ran for home, and was thrown out at the plate. That play, and Dwight Evans' brilliant catch off Joe Morgan in extra innings, set up Carlton Fisk's classic, game-winning home run.

The 1976 Red Sox never got on track under Johnson, and he was fired in July. Zimmer was named acting, then permanent, manager and he led them to a winning record, but a disappointing third-place finish in the AL East. The Red Sox would win more than 90 games in each of Zimmer's three full seasons (1977–79) as manager, only the second time they had pulled off this feat since World War I. His 1978 team won 99 games, still the fourth-best record in franchise history.

However, he is best remembered among Red Sox fans for the team's dramatic collapse during the 1978 season. After leading the American League East by as many as fourteen games, the Red Sox stumbled in August. By early September that lead was reduced to four games. That lead evaporated in a four-game series against the surging New York Yankees which is still known as "the Boston Massacre."

The Red Sox spent the last month of the season trading first place with the Yankees, forcing a one-game playoff on October 2. In that game, the Yankees took the lead permanently on a legendary home run by Bucky Dent over the Fenway Park Green Monster.

During this stretch, Zimmer made several questionable personnel moves. He never got along with left-handed starting pitcher Bill "Spaceman" Lee. As a matter of fact, his outright hatred of Lee (who had nicknamed Zimmer "The Gerbil.") ran 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. Reportedly, Carl Yastrzemski pleaded with Zimmer to start Lee, who, along with Luis Tiant, had dominated the Yankees during their careers. (Lee, for example, won 12 out of 17 decisions against the Yankees in 10 years with Boston.) Sprowl allowed four walks, one hit and one run in the first inning before being pulled and made only three more major-league starts.

Zimmer also penciled Fisk, the team's longtime starting catcher, into the lineup 154 times (out of a possible 162), a heavy workload for a catcher. Fisk complained of sore knees for much of this stretch and missed most of the next season with a sore arm. Finally, Zimmer kept third baseman Butch Hobson in the lineup, even though Hobson's elbow miseries (he had floating bone chips which he frequently rearranged before coming to the plate) made it impossible for him to hit for power or average, or throw accurately. Hobson made error after error, until finally Zimmer called on Jack Brohamer to replace him; with Brohamer at third, Boston won its last eight games of the regular season to force a tie with the Yankees, but the Red Sox lost the playoff game on home runs by Dent and Reggie Jackson.

Zimmer next managed the Texas Rangers. He spent less than two years in the job and his firing by owner Eddie Chiles was different. Zimmer was fired on a Monday but asked to remain on through Wednesday's game before being replaced by Darrell Johnson.^[5] When asked for the reason he fired Zimmer, Chiles said it was 'something personal' but refused to elaborate further.^[6]

After Texas, Zimmer coached three stints with the Yankees, then coached for the San Francisco Giants. In 1989, Zimmer managed the Chicago Cubs to a division title and was named Manager of the Year. Later, he returning to Boston for one season as a coach (under manager Hobson) in 1992. Overall, Zimmer won 906 Major League games as a manager.

Zimmer was on the first coaching staff of the expansion Colorado Rockies in 1993. In 1996, he joined the Yankees as their bench coach for their run of four World Series titles. In 1999, Zimmer filled in for Manager Joe Torre while Torre was recuperating from prostate cancer. Zimmer went 21-15 while guiding the Yankees during Torre's absence. This record however, is credited to Torre's managerial record. Many fans know him for his "brawl" with Pedro Martínez in the 2003 American League Championship Series. He was also once hit by a sharply hit foul ball batted by Yankee second baseman Chuck Knoblauch. The next game, Zimmer wore an army helmet with the word "ZIM" painted on the side and the Yankees logo stenciled on the front. Currently, Zimmer is a senior advisor for the Tampa Bay Rays. His role includes assisting the team during spring training and during home games. Every year, Zimmer increments his uniform number by one to match the number of years he has worked in baseball. During the 2010 season he wears #62, [1], as seen on the Rays' official site.

Zimmer has written 2 books, Zim: A Baseball Life, and The Zen of Zim, that describe his life in baseball, as a player, manager, and coach.

Since the 2008 season, Zimmer has been the last former Brooklyn Dodger still serving on the field in some capacity. Zimmer also serves as a member of the advisory board of the Baseball Assistance Team, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to helping former Major League, Minor League, and Negro League players through financial and medical difficulties.

Notes

1. ^ http://www.tampabay.com/sports/baseball/rays/article968298.ece
2. ^ "Popeye the Baseball Man". www.nytimes.com. May 6, 2001. http://www.nytimes.com/books/01/05/06/reviews/010506.06stjohn.html. Retrieved 2008-06-19. 
3. ^ "Don Zimmer: Baseball a lifestyle for lovable Zim". mlb.com. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/news/postseason/traces.jsp?loc=traces_zimmer. Retrieved 2008-12-02. 
4. ^ "Dome Plate". si.com. April 26, 1999. http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1015730/index.htm#top. Retrieved 2009-03-28. 
5. ^ Zimmer's fired
6. ^ Zimmer's firing remains a puzzle

External links

• Collecting Zim: A Don Zimmer Tribute
• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Don Zimmer managerial career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com
• Don Zimmer on Charlie Rose
• Works by or about Don Zimmer in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Don Zimmer collected news and commentary at The New York Times

Managerial jobs

Awards Preceded by Tommy Lasorda National League Manager of the Year 1989 Succeeded by Jim Leyland Sporting positions Preceded by Preston Gomez San Diego Padres manager 1972–1973 Succeeded by John McNamara Preceded by Darrell Johnson Boston Red Sox manager 1976–1980 Succeeded by Johnny Pesky Preceded by Pat Corrales Texas Rangers manager 1981-1982 Succeeded by Darrell Johnson Preceded by Frank Lucchesi Chicago Cubs manager 1988–1991 Succeeded by Joe Altobelli Preceded by Dick Williams Montreal Expos Third-Base Coach 1971 Succeeded by Jim Bragan Preceded by Eddie Popowski Dick Berardino Boston Red Sox Third-Base Coach 1974-1976 1992 Succeeded by Eddie Popowski Rick Burleson

Persondata
Name	Zimmer, Don
Alternative names
Short description	American baseball manager
Date of birth	January 17, 1931
Place of birth	Cincinnati, Ohio
Date of death
Place of death