OT: Don Zimmer dead at 83
An original Met, manager of the Red Sox and Cubs, bench coach for the Yankees. Quite a career in baseball. But we'll always remember him being owned by Pedro Martinez during the bench-clearing brawl.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/don-zimmer-baseball-…
He wasn't hurt, Pedro wasn't hurt, and he poked fun at himself afterward by wearing the army helmet in the dugout. It was hilarious, and showed some intestinal fortitude on the old man's part.
Don Zimmer said the following while crying the day after the fight with Pedro: "I'm embarrassed for what happened last night. I'm embarrassed for the Yankees, the Red Sox, the fans, the umpires and my family."
The helmet incident had nothing to do with Pedro. He wore it in the dugout the day after he was hit with a foul ball off the bat of Chuck Knoblauch.
I can't take credit for this quote but it encapsulates what he meant to baseball: of the many franchises he played/managed/was involved with, all claim him as their own. One of the baseball legends, may he RIP.
Very sad news indeed. Don Zimmer was one of the true characters of the game and he spent a ehopping 66 years in the game in some capacity, from player to manager to scout to a few other roles. He never strayed from the sport he loved, and that's a dedication few people show to a profession nowadays. He played on the only Brooklyn Dodgers team to win it all, and a short time later, on a hopelessly futile expansion team called the Mets (albeit for only a few weeks before a trade to his hometown Reds).
RIP Don Zimmer.
As a Cub fan, I loved ZImmer and his 89 team. Does anyone remember Zimmer getting into a near brawl with Mario Sotto in 83? One of my first experiences as a Cub fan when I was 10 years old. Watch the youtube of it. Pretty amazing. Harry's call on the enture thing was terrible but that was kind of his thing.
Here it is . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAhzFOBKrE8 . . . I was wrong. It was 1984. Boy, I thought it was 83.
And Zimmer did end up in a brawl.
He was one of the greatest players we had....
I'll never forget 10 years ago when Pedro threw Don to the turf at Yankee Stadium. I called up Parker and the Man on "Trash talking Tuesday" and trashed Don Zimmer. To this day I don't really understand why. Maybe because I laughed when he went rolling.