Don Zimmer, who gave his life to baseball by contributing to the game as a player, adviser, manager and coach, died at the age of 83. He had a passion towards the game which was unmatched and lasted for more than 60 years. He passed away on Wednesday at Dunedin, Florida. Zimmer was born and raised in Cincinnati and made his major league debut in 1954.
The news of his death was announced by Tampa Bay Rays where he served as an adviser. Zimmer who was not keeping well, recently had a surgery for a leaky heart valve. One of his kidneys was not fully functional as he was undergoing dialysis since the past two years after falling into a diabetic coma.
He was so attached to the game that he even got married on a baseball diamond back in 1951 and always seemed to be present on the field. During his illustrious career, he was an icon player for Brooklyn Dodgers’ only World Series championship team. He was also a member of the Mets for a brief period. He then gained more acclaim as an assistant to Joe Torre’s New York Yankees team which was an undisputed champion team during its peak. Don took over the reigns from Torre when he was being treated for prostate cancer.
Don also gained a lot of laurels managing other teams, especially with the Boston Red Sox in the 70s. He got the National League’s manager of the year award in 1989 as he led the Chicago Cubs to an unprecedented division championship. He worked as a manager for different teams in the majors for 13 seasons.
He had more than a decade of experience as a player. He played in the Major League Baseball (MLB) for 12 seasons for different teams and played mostly as an in-field player. He was an all-star for only a single time though and never ever managed a pennant winner, but his intensity towards the game was unmatched. His passion sometimes boiled down even to the pitch as he was once involved in a bitter on-field clash with Boston’s Pedro Martinez while he was coaching the Yankees. He later apologized for this act for tarnishing the image of the game.
Don got the nickname Popeye, thanks to his bulging arm muscles when he was a player. Zimmer is survived by his wife Jean, daughter Donna, a son Tom and four grandchildren.