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| Manager and Coaches |
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Don Zimmer 61 |
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Full Name: Donald William Zimmer
Title: Coach
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| Bio: |
Coaching Career
Was named senior baseball advisor for the
Rays on January 8, 2004Zim is in uniform
as a coach during spring training and for pregame
practices at all regular season home
games and most road gameshe also assists
the Rays in the area of community affairs...Wears No. 61 for his 61 years in baseball...Last fall was the 16th year he has been involved
in the postseasonhas had a role in 59
postseason gamesowns six World Series
rings: four as a coach with the Yankees and
two as a player for Brooklyn (1955) and Los
Angeles (1959)...Has been a major league coach or manager
every year since 1971, 38 years totalprior to
joining the Rays he spent 8 seasons as bench
coach on the staff of New York Yankees Manager
Joe Torre...The Rays are the 9th major league club for
which he has worn a uniform as a coach or
manageralso Expos, Padres, Red Sox,
Rangers, Yankees, Cubs, Giants and Rockies
also wore five other major league uniforms
as a player: Brooklyn and Los Angeles
Dodgers, Senators, Mets and Reds...Managed 13 seasons in the majors compiling
an 885-858 (.508) record with the Padres, Red
Sox, Rangers and Cubshe was named National
League Manager of the Year in 1989 after
guiding the Cubs to the National League East
Division title with a 93-69 recordreceived 23
of 24 first-place votes from the BBWAA...Appeared as a coach in the postseason for the
Red Sox in 1975, the Cubs in 1984, the Giants
in 1987 and in each of his eight seasons with
the Yankees (1996-2003)...Managed the Red Sox in 1978 when they lost
a one-game playoff to the Yankees and their
right fielder, Lou Piniella...Managed the Yankees for the first 36 games
(21-15) of the 1999 season when Joe Torre was recovering from prostate cancer...Became the third base coach on Manager
Lou Piniellas staff with the Yankees midway
through 1986 after he was dismissed by the
Cubsin 1990, he managed the major league
All-Star Team that toured Japan.
Playing Career
His major league playing career spanned 12
seasons (1954-65) as an infielder with the
Dodgers (Brooklyn and Los Angeles), Cubs,
Mets, Reds and Washington Senatorshe
also played the 1966 season in Japan with the
Toei Flyers...Began his playing career in 1949 after signing
with the Brooklyn Dodgersin 1950, he stole
home 10 times while playing for Hornell of the
Pennsylvania-Ohio-New York League...While playing for St. Paul in the American Association
he was hit in the head by a pitch from
Jim Kirk on July 7, 1953missed the rest of
the seasonhad 23 home runs and 63 RBI at
the time he was injured...Made his major league debut for the Brooklyn
Dodgers the next season and on July 2 at
Philadelphia he tripled off Curt Simmons for
his first major league hit...Was hit in the head again by a pitch in 1956,
this time by Cincinnatis Hal Jeffcoatsuffered
fractured cheekbone and didnt play the
rest of the seasongot hit again as a coach
with the Yankees in 1999 when Yankee Chuck
Knoblauchs foul ball found him in the dugout...Made the 1961 All-Star Team as a second
baseman for the Cubs...Was the first player to try on a Mets uniform,
modeling it at Huggins-Stengel Field in St.
Petersburg before spring training opened in
1962was the Mets first third baseman but
started the season 0-for-34 before getting his
first hit.
Personal & Misc.
Don and his wife, Jean (Soot), purchased a
condo in Seminole, Fla., three years ago after
residing on Treasure Island, Fla., for 49 years
Don and Soot, his high school sweetheart,
were married on August 16, 1951, at home
plate in the baseball stadium at Elmira, N.Y...Attended Western Hills High School in Cincinnati
with former Kansas City and Cubs manager
Jim Frey...Teamed with NY Daily News columnist Bill Madden for a New York Times best-seller Zim:
A Baseball Lifebook was released in 2001
the two combined on another book, The Zen
of Zim, released in July 2004...Has two children, Thomas and Donna, and
four grandchildren, including 30-year-old
Beau, a news reporter for WTSP-TV (10) in St.
Petersburg, and Whitney, a senior third baseman
on the University of Massachusetts softball
teamin three years at UMass, she has
a .344 career average with 22 home runs and
125 RBI in 166 games.
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