superman7515
June 5th, 2014, 06:59 AM
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mlb/news/20140605/don-zimmer-yankees-cubs-red-sox-dodgers-obituary/
Zimmer, who died Wednesday at the age of 83, was always one-of-a-kind. Whether literally standing up to Steinbrenner or working as a player, coach or manager for 14 major league organizations, Zimmer led one of the most epic baseball lives in the history of the game. The very ubiquitous nature of the man -- he was an eyewitness to baseball history unlike anyone else -- and the cherubic face atop the squat body made him at times seem more fictional than fact, with strains of Woody Allen's Zelig, Tom Hanks' Forrest Gump, George Lucas' Yoda and Milne's Pooh.
What kept him going all these years to all these places was one of the deepest loves of baseball the game ever has known. Baseball to Zim was right there with carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulphur as the most common elements of life. He liked to say that he was proud to never have taken a job outside the sport -- every paycheck he earned was through baseball.
To talk with Zim for any length of time at any stage of his long baseball journey was to immediately see his love for the game. It was there when he was married at home plate in Elmira, N.Y., in 1951 to a girl he had been dating since 10th grade. It was there when Derek Jeter (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/5406/index.html) would tell Zim to hold his bat in the Yankee dugout between at-bats for good luck. And it was there when Zim cried at a press conference in 2003 in Boston, the day after he left Fenway Park in an ambulance after Pedro Martinez (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/5071/index.html) had pushed the old man to the ground in what was about to become a bench-clearing brawl between the Yankees and Red Sox. The sight of a hatless Zimmer rolling to the turf stopped everybody in their tracks before mayhem broke out. Zimmer turned out to be just fine, but he was moved to tears that next day because of the harm his actions brought to the game.
Zimmer met Babe Ruth (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/46855/index.html) (in 1947), was a teammate of Jackie Robinson (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/43112/index.html) (1954-56) and played for Casey Stengel (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/47241/index.html) (1962). He was in uniform for some of the most iconic teams in history: the team that lost the most games ('62 Mets) and the team, including postseason play, that won the most games ('98 Yankees). He was in uniform for the only World Series championship for the Brooklyn Dodgers (1955), one of the most famous World Series home runs (Carlton Fisk (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/337/index.html)'s shot in 1975), one of the most famous regular season home runs (Bucky Dent (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/287/index.html) in 1978), the Pine Tar Game (1983), the first night game at Wrigley Field (1988), the first game in Rockies history (1993), and all three perfect games thrown at Yankee Stadium (Don Larsen (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/42461/index.html), David Wells (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/4057/index.html) and David Cone (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/3895/index.html)).
Much more at the link...
Zimmer, who died Wednesday at the age of 83, was always one-of-a-kind. Whether literally standing up to Steinbrenner or working as a player, coach or manager for 14 major league organizations, Zimmer led one of the most epic baseball lives in the history of the game. The very ubiquitous nature of the man -- he was an eyewitness to baseball history unlike anyone else -- and the cherubic face atop the squat body made him at times seem more fictional than fact, with strains of Woody Allen's Zelig, Tom Hanks' Forrest Gump, George Lucas' Yoda and Milne's Pooh.
What kept him going all these years to all these places was one of the deepest loves of baseball the game ever has known. Baseball to Zim was right there with carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulphur as the most common elements of life. He liked to say that he was proud to never have taken a job outside the sport -- every paycheck he earned was through baseball.
To talk with Zim for any length of time at any stage of his long baseball journey was to immediately see his love for the game. It was there when he was married at home plate in Elmira, N.Y., in 1951 to a girl he had been dating since 10th grade. It was there when Derek Jeter (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/5406/index.html) would tell Zim to hold his bat in the Yankee dugout between at-bats for good luck. And it was there when Zim cried at a press conference in 2003 in Boston, the day after he left Fenway Park in an ambulance after Pedro Martinez (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/5071/index.html) had pushed the old man to the ground in what was about to become a bench-clearing brawl between the Yankees and Red Sox. The sight of a hatless Zimmer rolling to the turf stopped everybody in their tracks before mayhem broke out. Zimmer turned out to be just fine, but he was moved to tears that next day because of the harm his actions brought to the game.
Zimmer met Babe Ruth (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/46855/index.html) (in 1947), was a teammate of Jackie Robinson (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/43112/index.html) (1954-56) and played for Casey Stengel (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/47241/index.html) (1962). He was in uniform for some of the most iconic teams in history: the team that lost the most games ('62 Mets) and the team, including postseason play, that won the most games ('98 Yankees). He was in uniform for the only World Series championship for the Brooklyn Dodgers (1955), one of the most famous World Series home runs (Carlton Fisk (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/337/index.html)'s shot in 1975), one of the most famous regular season home runs (Bucky Dent (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/287/index.html) in 1978), the Pine Tar Game (1983), the first night game at Wrigley Field (1988), the first game in Rockies history (1993), and all three perfect games thrown at Yankee Stadium (Don Larsen (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/42461/index.html), David Wells (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/4057/index.html) and David Cone (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/3895/index.html)).
Much more at the link...