April 03, 2023

Rays Make Don Zimmer First Inductee in Team's Hall of Fame: Baseball lifer Don Zimmer joined the Tampa Bay Rays in 2004 as a special advisor and went on to serve in that role for 11 years, his longest stint with any team over 66 years in baseball. Now he has become the first to be inducted into the Rays' new franchise hall of fame, nine years after he died. “The Rays hiring him, I think it made his lifetime longer,” said his wife Soot, 92.

posted by rcade to baseball at 08:58 PM - 3 comments

If they put up a statue, Pedro Martinez will show up at the unveiling and knock it over.

posted by Howard_T at 09:51 PM on April 03, 2023

Ol' Popeye. Good for him. And man, talk about a lifer. He started his pro baseball journey in the early '50s?

posted by NoMich at 08:54 AM on April 04, 2023

Zimmer was one of the many Texas Rangers managers of my childhood. They never lasted long. My favorite was Billy Martin, who many years later became a posthumous member of my extended family when his son married my wife's niece.

I didn't know Zim's 1953 beaning in a spring training game led to batting helmets becoming mandatory in MLB.

There are a lot of surprises in his bio. I think I need an Elefantes de Cienfuegos jersey from the Cuban League with Zimmer on the back.

posted by rcade at 08:04 PM on April 04, 2023

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