Don Zimmer died yesterday at the age of the age of 83. He spent 66 years in baseball. Remarkable. I posted this comment on Jim from Downington's 1960's Baseball blog:
RIP indeed. I'd like to see the Veterans Committee find a way to get Zim into the HOF. He spent 66 years giving his life to the game. Don't they have a 'contributors' category. He's as worthy of that as many others in the Hall. I think it's the least the game can do for him.His 1959 card is one of my favorites from that set. I remember reading up on him when I was posting it over on that site. I ended up rushing to finish because I had spent so much time reading about his career. Quite a character. His playing numbers don't justify the Hall, but surely his 'baseball life' does.
More Zimmer cards from my collection.
66 years! He had to be doing something right.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing that, since spending so much of the past 50 years as a coach (as opposed to being the manager), he was able to get closer to the players, pal around with them, tell them stories, and just generally impart his baseball wisdom.
That may be his greatest contribution - having served as tutor to the more recent generations of ballplayers. I'm not sure he could have accomplished that had he been a manager for all that time (like Tony LaRussa or Joe Torre).
RIP Zim!
Sad to see Zim pass
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