COACHING CAREER
Was named senior baseball advisor for the Rays on Jan 8, 2004...Zim serves as a coach/advisor during spring training and for pregame practices at all home games...he also assists the Rays in the area of community affairs. This is his 11th season with the Rays -- his most years with one major league club. Wears No. 65 for his 65 years in baseball. Has been to the postseason 19 times and has had a role in 73 postseason games...owns 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, 42 years total...prior to joining the Rays he spent eight seasons as bench coach for Yankees Manager Joe Torre. The Rays are the ninth major league club for which he has worn a uniform as a coach or manager...also Expos, Padres, Red Sox, Rangers, Yankees, Cubs, Giants and Rockies...also wore five other ML uniforms as a player: Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers, Washington Senators, Mets and Reds. Managed 13 seasons in the majors, compiling an 885-858 (.508) record with the Padres, Red Sox, Rangers and Cubs...he 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 record...received 23 of 24 first-place votes from the BBWAA. Managed the Red Sox in 1978 when they lost a one-game playoff to the Yankees.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 Piniella's staff with the Yankees midway through 1986 after he was dismissed by the Cubs...in 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 Senators...he also played the 1966 season in Japan with the Toei Flyers. Began his playing career in 1949 after signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers...in 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, 1953...missed the rest of the season...had 23 home runs and 63 RBI at in only 81 games at the time he was injured. Made his major league debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers the next season and on July 2 at PHI 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 CIN Hal Jeffcoat...suffered a fractured cheekbone and didn't play the rest of the season...got hit again as a coach in 1999 when Chuck Knoblauch's foul ball found him in the Yankee dugout. Made the 1961 All-Star Team as a second baseman for the Cubs, his lone All-Star appearance as a player. Was the first player to try on a Mets uniform, modeling it at Huggins-Stengel Field in St. Petersburg before spring training opened under Manager Casey Stengel in 1962...was the Mets first third baseman but started the season 0-for-34 before getting his first hit.
PERSONAL
Don and his wife, Jean (Soot), purchased a condo in Seminole, Fla., six years ago after residing in Treasure Island, Fla., for 49 years...Don and Soot, his high school sweetheart, were married on Aug 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. In April 2011, he was inducted into the Cincinnati Public High School Sports Hall of Fame. Teamed with NY Daily News columnist Bill Madden for a New York Times best-seller, Zim: A Baseball Life...book 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 Beau, a news reporter for WTSP-TV (10) in St. Petersburg, and Whitney, a 2009 graduate of the University of Massachusetts where she played softball and started four years at third base...she left with a .341 career average, 28 home runs and 156 RBI, most in school history. Entered the Red Sox Hall of Fame in September 2010 along with Jimmy Piersall, Tommy Harper and John Valentin.