Page 237 - 1975 BoSox

YOU WON’T FIND THE DEFINITION of “baseball lifer” in the American Heritage Dictionary, but if you did, Don
Zimmer’s picture would be a suitable choice to ac- company it. Over a period of 60 years, Zimmer claimed to have never collected a paycheck anywhere other than baseball, except once from Social Security.
“I never dreamed I’d be in baseball so long that they’d invent jobs to keep me in the game,” Zimmer said in his 2004 memoir. “Maybe that’s not exactly right, but I will say this, before I got a call from Butch Hobson asking if I’d like to serve as his bench coach in 1992, I never heard that term.”1
He was also given several nicknames over the years, including Popeye (because his arms reminded people of the comic-strip character), Zip, and Zim.
Donald William Zimmer was born in Cincinnati on January 17, 1931, to Harold Zimmer, who owned a wholesale fruit and vegetable company, and his wife, Lorraine, who oversaw things at home. His younger brother, Harold Jr. (Hal), played in the minor leagues from 1951 through 1953.
By the time he entered Western Hills High School, Don had become a two-sport athlete, playing football and baseball. He was named the quarterback for an all-Ohio team, and was the star shortstop for the baseball team. Baseball was his real passion. At various times the Western Hills team featured
future major leaguers Ed Brinkman, Art Mahaffey, Russ Nixon, Pete Rose, Herman Wehmeier, and Clyde Vollmer, as well as Jim Frey, a major-league manager and general manager.
In 1947 Zimmer’s American Legion team won the national American Legion championship in the finals in Los Angeles. He and his teammates met Babe
Ruth and everyone on the team got a ball autographed by Ruth. (Don literally tore the cover o his ball by playing with it.)
e hometown Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers showed interest in Zimmer. At rst Don had his heart set on playing for the Reds, and his father assured the Cincinnati brass that his son planned to sign with them. But the Dodgers’ Branch Rickey, alerted by Cli Alexander, a bird-dog scout who coached at rival Woodward High School, held a private tryout for Zimmer with Hall of Famer George Sisler, a Dodgers scout. Zimmer hit three or four balls out of the park, and. Rickey o ered him $2,500 to sign. e Reds said they could o er only $2,000 but would start Zimmer in Class B ball. Zimmer did not give a hometown discount; he took the Dodgers’ o er.
Zimmer began with the Cambridge Dodgers of the Class D Eastern Shore League in 1949. e next year he played for Hornell of the Class D PONY League, where he batted .315, led the league with 146 runs scored, and stole home 10 times. at season put him on the fast track for the majors. Zimmer moved up to Elmira of the Class A Eastern League in 1951. On August 16 he married his high-school sweetheart, Carol Jean Bauerle, before a game in Elmira.
Zimmer played in 1952 for Mobile of the Double-A American Association.
e Dodgers moved him up to Triple-A St. Paul in 1953. Batting .300 with 23 home runs and 63 RBIs in 81 games, Zimmer was hit on the side of the head by a pitch thrown by Columbus pitcher Jim Kirk in a game at Columbus on July 7. Zimmer’s skull was fractured and he was uncon- scious for 10 days. As well as Zimmer could remember, it was the rst game of a twilight doubleheader. ere were trees
Don Zimmer
By Bob Hurte
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