Page 242 - 1975 BoSox

’75—THE RED SOX TEAM THAT SAVED BASEBALL 235
made Zimmer the general manager as well as manager. When Texas had a terrible road trip in New York, Toronto, Boston, and Detroit, losing 10 games, Chiles red Zimmer. (His replacement was Darrell Johnson whom he had replaced in Boston.)
Zimmer was not out of work for long. Oakland A’s manager Billy Martin called to o er a job as his third- base coach. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner made the same o er. Zimmer knew “ e Boss” from the horse tracks. He took the Yankees’ o er. Clyde King was the Yankees’ manager at the time, but it was rumored that he would be red and that Martin would come back to New York. Zimmer became the third- base coach for the Yankees, and indeed, Billy returned to the Bronx in 1983. Zimmer left after one season in New York. He said Martin treated him well but that he was uncomfortable with how Martin treated others.
Zimmer was in line to become the third-base coach for the California Angels in 1984, but then his buddy Jim Frey called. Frey was going to be the new manager of the Chicago Cubs and he wanted his childhood friend to be on his sta . e Cuns won the National League East and were up two games to none against San Diego in the NL Championship Series. But they lost the next three in San Diego. Still, Zimmer felt it had been a terri c season — the team had done what no other Cubs team had in 40 years. He was disap- pointed but not as deeply as in 1978 with Boston.
In 1985 Chicago went from 96-65 to 77-84, mainly because of injuries. en in 1986 the Cubs started o at 19-27. After a 3-7 road trip, general manager Dallas Green red both Frey and Zimmer. Gene Michael became the new Cubs manager.
e next day, George Steinbrenner o ered Zimmer a job coaching at third base for the Yankees’ latest manager, Lou Piniella. Again Zimmer stayed for just one season with the Yankees. Steinbrenner and Piniella were at constant odds during the entire season. Piniella didnotknowwhathisstatuswasinNewYork.Zimmer decided to leave, and San Francisco Giants manager Roger Craig, his former Brooklyn teammate, called and o ered him a coaching job. Zimmer was with the
San Francisco Giants for the 1987 season. e Giants won the Western Division with a strong second half but lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS.
e Giants o ered Zimmer a two-year contract, but he learned that Dallas Green had been red as the Cubs’ GM and that Jim Frey was taking his place. Frey called to o er Zim the manager’s job, which he took — the Cubs had a lot of young talent.
e Cubs were below .500 in 1988. Before the 1989 season, Frey and Zimmer decided that their number- one priority was a closer. ey targeted Mitch “Wild ing” Williams, and the price was Rafael Palmeiro. Williams saved 36 games in 76 appearances. e 1989 Cubs were known as “ e Boys of Zimmer,” a takeo on Roger Kahn’s book, e Boys of Summer. e Cubs surprised the league, winning the Eastern Division. A 23-year-old Greg Maddux won 19 games and Mark Grace established himself as one of the premier rst basemen in the Nation League. e Cubs featured four All-Stars, Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson, Rick Sutcli e, and Williams. Jerome Walton captured the NL Rookie of the Year award. But the Cubs lost to the Giants, four games to one, in the NLCS.
In 1990 the Cubs fell back to fourth place, with a 77-85 record. After the team started o the 1991 season with an 18-19 record, Zimmer was red. at ended his career as a major-league manager; he was 885-858 over 13 years.
For only the second time in Zimmer’s professional baseball career, he found himself at home in the summer without a job. He admitted that it was kind of nice spending time with his family and doing things he was never able to do, such as going to the horse track and enjoying his grandchildren— but he was itching to work in baseball again.
General manager Bob Gebhard of the expansion Colorado Rockies called. ey had hired Don Baylor as their rst manager and wanted Zimmer on the sta . During spring training at Tucson, Zimmer felt odd on a bus ride after a game; his eyes were burning, and he had problems with his vision. e bus went to