Don Zimmer

Some players in baseball get called up for a mere cup of coffee and are never seen or heard from ever again...others have lengthy careers but are otherwise anonymous and the answer to some obscure trivia question...and then there are guys like Don Zimmer, who showed up in 1954 and stuck around as a player, manager or a coach for pretty much every season until 2014, coming to a grand total of 66 years in the game. The only thing that stopped him was death, and those 66 years were so impressive that the Tampa Bay Rays (the final team he coached for) retired the number in his honor.

He was best known as a manager, manning the helm for the Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, San Diego Padres and the Texas Rangers, with the Red Sox acknowledging his efforts by putting him in the team Hall of Fame. In addition to that, he found the time in other years to coach in various roles for the [Devil] Rays, Cubs, Red Sox, Padres, Montreal Expos, Colorado Rockies, San Francisco Giants, and of course the New York Yankees where during their late 90s dynasty years he was a good luck charm for Derek Jeter to rub the head of.

Also consider that he played infield positions for the Brooklyn/LA Dodgers, Cubs, New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds and the Washington Senators [the future Rangers version]. In total he had a hand in a dozen franchises in MLB, almost half of the teams!

So as we turn the page next week to 2025 (and I flex on the fact that this project had at least one update every week for the entire year), let's take a moment to look back on the playing career of one of baseballs most memorable figures...

Rookie Zimmer in 1954. To even get to this point was a challenge for Don, who the year prior in the minors took a pitch in the head and was knocked out for a couple weeks, almost killing him. He was told his career was over, but players back then had a higher standard for injuries and Zimmer was back on his road to the majors not long after. Because of this incident, baseball would mandate that hitters wear helmets when at the plate.

After his rookie campaign, Zimmer played winter ball and came away with the Caribbean Series MVP award. The effects of the work shows in his card where his on-base increases slightly and his chart get a big boost in the power areas. It played a big help for the '55 Dodgers to bring home the only title for Brooklyn.

In 1956, Zimmer got drilled in the head again, this time in his face where his cheekbone broke and his retina almost detached.

Zimmer said goodbye to Brooklyn with his worst card yet, with a 7 on-base and a chart that makes outs almost 50% of the time. Now is a good time to point out that Zimmer was never much of an offensive player.

Welcome to LA, Zim. His on-base and power numbers recover a little with the move and he finally gets some speed back.

Arguably the worst Zimmer card. Over half his chart makes outs with the advantage, reflecting his career low .165 average. At the very least he won his final title (as a player) before moving on from the Dodgers.

Zimmer needed a change of scenery in 1960, and it's in Chicago where he would hit his career high of .258. His chart gets a very pleasing distribution in all categories.

With over 60 years in baseball, and a vast majority of his notable years as a coach or manager, it's a bit hard to search the internet for good player pictures, especially when most Cub photos are of him as a manager.
1960 gave Zimmer his only all star season where his chart gets halfway decent. He looked so good that when the expansion New York Mets were drafting players to join them, Zimmer was in their sights...

Zimmer didn't play much for the expansion Mets. The team was really bad, and they decided to make several trades in attempt to do something about the record setting pace they set for losing. One of those trades involved Zimmer.

To the Reds Zimmer went, where his chart is a bit unique, but not a whole lot worth starting in a lineup.

Don began 1963 back in LA with the Dodgers, but after only a handful of games he was purchased by the Washington Senators. His power came back in the AL where his reached double digits in the stat for only the 4th time in his career, giving him his best homer card in his career.

Did I mention how hard it was finding good player photos for Zimmer? For what it's worth, I've been told he was safe in that picture. Zimmer continued his power push in his twilight days with a card that gives you 14+ XBH if you're willing to live with 1-6 strikeouts.

The final season of Don Zimmer's playing career showed a huge regression to his bad cards of the past, but hey, I do believe he can play Catcher here.
If he only knew that at this point he still had another long lifetime of baseball to live. He went on to mention that he had to be the luckiest .235 career hitter ever, and never took it for granted the kind of baseball life he was privileged to live.