But Don Zimmer is a baseball lifer who came up with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1953 and he could be seen on "tv" back in 1955 on this Bowman card.
I'm lucky to have several card shops close to me. One of which is my go to for vintage cards. They constantly have "new" inventory because they price it to move. I picked up this 1955 Bowman Don Zimmer rookie card for $3. Sure it's in rough shape, but I couldn't say no.
If you believe the back of the card, Zimmer was "one of the brightest prospects in baseball" at the time and he would spent twelve seasons in the majors before spending a year in Japan playing ball. Following his playing career, Zimmer would start coaching in the minors. By 1971 he was at the big league level and would spend the next 43 years as either a coach or manager of an MLB team.
What memories do you have of Don Zimmer?
I remember him apologizing for embarrassing himself and the Yankees after that game. I also remember he was the one that charged after Pedro, and While Pedro did swing him down to the ground (which he said was the biggest regret of his career) it only looked like this because Zimmer was a 72 year old man picking a fight with a superstar athlete in peak physical condition.
ReplyDeleteI remember that Bill "Spaceman" Lee gave him the nickname "The Gerbil", and that he once wore an army helmet in the dugout after getting beaned by a line drive.
ReplyDeleteOh man... I can close my eyes and see Zimmer and Pedro.
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