Don Zimmer
Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2014 7:35 pm
Don Zimmer, a revered figure in his 65 years in Major League Baseball, died Wednesday, less than two months after undergoing heart surgery.
He was 83.
Zimmer's colorful personality and a deep love of the game that prompted him to say he never worked a day in his life. He had a 12-year major league playing career, but rose to notoriety in more than 30 years as a coach and manager, most recently with the Tampa Bay Rays.
Zimmer was most recently a senior adviser for the Rays and still suited up with the club during spring training.
He had been hospitalized since having heart surgery on April 16. His son Tom told the Tampa Bay Times that Zimmer "went peacefully."
Zimmer's health was not far form the Rays' minds. Third base coach Tom Foley took to wearing a jersey with Zimmer on the back in tribute to the aiing icon.
Tampa Bay was but a final stop on a true baseball odyssey.
His journeyman playing career ended in 1965, but Zimmer's time in the game was just beginning; he was a coach and player his final two seasons with the Washington Senators, starting him on a path that would make the jowly-cheeked coach a baseball lifer.
Zimmer served four stints as a major league manager, most recently with the Chicago Cubs from 1988-1991, but his greatest fame probably came when he joined the New York Yankees as a coach in 1996.
That, of course, was the season they won the first of four World Series titles in a five-year span.
He was beloved by Yankee players, most notably Derek Jeter, during his stint as Joe Torre's aide de camp.
But his time with the club ended in unwanted notoriety, when Zimmer became involved in an on-field altercation between the Yankees and Boston Red Sox, and Zimmer, stunningly, charged at Boston pitcher Pedro Martinez, who saw no choice but to usher the then-72-year-old Zimmer to the turf.
After that season, he was forced out of his job as bench coach, though it was termed a resignation, Zimmer famously saying he was "tired of being treated like a dog" by Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.
From the USA Today.
Goodbye Popeye. You were a real baseball man.
He was 83.
Zimmer's colorful personality and a deep love of the game that prompted him to say he never worked a day in his life. He had a 12-year major league playing career, but rose to notoriety in more than 30 years as a coach and manager, most recently with the Tampa Bay Rays.
Zimmer was most recently a senior adviser for the Rays and still suited up with the club during spring training.
He had been hospitalized since having heart surgery on April 16. His son Tom told the Tampa Bay Times that Zimmer "went peacefully."
Zimmer's health was not far form the Rays' minds. Third base coach Tom Foley took to wearing a jersey with Zimmer on the back in tribute to the aiing icon.
Tampa Bay was but a final stop on a true baseball odyssey.
His journeyman playing career ended in 1965, but Zimmer's time in the game was just beginning; he was a coach and player his final two seasons with the Washington Senators, starting him on a path that would make the jowly-cheeked coach a baseball lifer.
Zimmer served four stints as a major league manager, most recently with the Chicago Cubs from 1988-1991, but his greatest fame probably came when he joined the New York Yankees as a coach in 1996.
That, of course, was the season they won the first of four World Series titles in a five-year span.
He was beloved by Yankee players, most notably Derek Jeter, during his stint as Joe Torre's aide de camp.
But his time with the club ended in unwanted notoriety, when Zimmer became involved in an on-field altercation between the Yankees and Boston Red Sox, and Zimmer, stunningly, charged at Boston pitcher Pedro Martinez, who saw no choice but to usher the then-72-year-old Zimmer to the turf.
After that season, he was forced out of his job as bench coach, though it was termed a resignation, Zimmer famously saying he was "tired of being treated like a dog" by Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.
From the USA Today.
Goodbye Popeye. You were a real baseball man.
