Zim: A Baseball Life [Hardcover]

Don Zimmer (Author), Bill Madden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 9, 2001

In Zim, one of baseball’s most eccentric characters and storytellers chronicles his life in the sport, from playing high school ball in Cincinnati to his current role as bench coach for the New York Yankees. Don Zimmer’s career has crossed paths with the game’s most memorable people and events, and Zim includes them all, from Babe Ruth, who lauded Zim’s team a year before he died, to the Brooklyn Dodgers, who drafted him as a potential heir to shortstop Pee Wee Reese, to Casey Stengel, who Zimmer played for as one of the original New York Mets. Accounts of his tragedies — two life-threatening beanings — and triumphs — managing the San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers, and Chicago Cubs — give a panoramic history of both the man and the sport.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

For more than half a century, Don Zimmer, baseball's beloved gerbil, has been the Zelig of the national pastime, the character in the corner of so many interesting pictures. He may have been only--as he likes to remind us throughout Zim: A Baseball Life--a .235 hitter, but he was a .235 hitter who played with Jackie Robinson on the only Brooklyn team to win a World Series. A year later, he was there, on the bench, when Don Larsen threw his perfect game. More than just an original Met, Zim was the first player ever photographed in a Mets uniform. As the Red Sox third-base coach in 1975, it was Zim who waved Carlton Fisk home in the bottom of the 12th to end the greatest World Series game ever played. Three years later, it was Zim, now the Sox manager, who watched in despair as Yankee shortstop Bucky Dent sealed one of the greatest late-season collapses in the annals of the game when Dent's pennant-winning homer settled into the net atop the Green Monster. Of course, it was Zim who led the Cubs, of all teams, to a rare postseason appearance, and, approaching 70 at the turn of the millennium, it was Zim who added four championship rings to his collection as Joe Torre's bench coach in the Bronx.

Bridging the gap between the game's early years of integration and the advent of the $200-million-plus contract, Zim hasn't just witnessed the history of the second half of 20th-century baseball, he's embodied it, and he remembers it with a genial charm and disarming honesty that turns Zim into one of the more spirited and beguiling baseball memoirs to step up in some time. "I've had a hell of a life," he admits with an amazed cheerfulness that's evident on every page. --Jeff Silverman

From Publishers Weekly

Zimmer is a "lifer," having been involved with professional baseball for half a century. A native of Cincinnati, he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1949; a powerful shortstop, he was the logical successor to Pee Wee Reese. Zimmer suffered several beanings that nearly cost him his life and never became the ballplayer he was projected to be. Still, "Popeye" so-called because of his bulging forearms did enjoy a successful major league career. A member of Brooklyn's only World Champion team in 1955, he then played on the Los Angeles Dodgers' first world championship team four years later. He tells riveting stories about the "Boys of Summer," like Billy Loes, Johnny Podres, Clem Labine and Duke Snider. Zimmer became a much-traveled utility infielder and spent his last year playing in Japan, where, he observed, the horses "ran backwards" at the racetrack. He recounts his stints as a manager in San Diego, Boston, Texas and Chicago, and as Joe Torres's bench coach during the 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000 Yankee World Championships. Zimmer pulls no punches in his evaluations of baseball celebrities like Hall of Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, managers Don Baylor, Billy Martin and Joe Torre, and owners Eddie Chiles and George Steinbrenner. Zimmer's book is bluntly honest and filled with amusing anecdotes, a cut above the average baseball autobiography.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Total Sports; 1st edition (April 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930844190
• ISBN-13: 978-1930844193
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,571,800 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for any sports fan, March 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Zim: A Baseball Life (Hardcover)

You don't need to be a Yankee fan, just a fan of fascinating sports stories that span generations. Madden is an excellent author, and wildly suceeds weaving together the intricate stories of Don Zimmer's long experiences on and off the field. A heartfelt opening by Joe Torre completes a great package. If you are a sports fan, buy it and enjoy. If you are a Yankee fan, shame on you for not having this already!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thanks, Zim, June 5, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Zim: A Baseball Life (Hardcover)

Kudos to Don Zimmer and his co-author. 'Zim' covers it all, from the glory days of the Brooklyn Dodgers to the current New York Yankee dynasty. If you want a solid overview of the baseball world from the 1950s to the 1990s, this is your book. Zim tells it with humility but also tells it like it is, with great vignettes. All this from a guy who was almost killed three times by flying baseballs. Baseball needs more guys like this, and more books like this, too.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fat, Bald, and Funny, March 10, 2002

By 

Jason A. Miller (New York, New York USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Zim: A Baseball Life (Paperback)

Who's the answer to more baseball trivia questions than anyone else in history? Don Zimmer, of course. "Zim: A Baseball Life" is 52 years' worth of anecdotes from the one guy who's been everywhere and seen it all.

Zim's the only man to have been in uniform at all three New York Yankees' perfect games (the first and last of which were 43 years apart); he played a pivotal role in the Brooklyn Dodgers' lone World Series victory (by coming out of the game early); he was the first to play third base for the New York Mets (hundreds have followed, and, like Zim, none lasted very long); and he managed the 1978 Boston Red Sox when Bucky Dent hit that pop fly over the Green Monster on October 2nd.

"Zim" is a fast read, spilling over with Zim stories on every page. It's written on a very simple level, but is meticulously researched and, as a result, is completely authoritative. A couple of factual errors pop up, yes, which co-writer Bill Madden probably could have caught (Zim is said to have received roses when the Yankees won the 1999 season opener; news that is surprising when you remember the Yanks lost that game), but overall the errors, like strands of Zim's hair, are few and far between.

The 2002 baseball season is about to begin and, no surprise, Zimmer will be there in uniform again. He's a funny guy (and a funny-looking guy) and it does the troubled sport of baseball a world of good that Zimmer is still around, the link between Pee Wee Reese and Derek Jeter, Clem Labine and Mariano Rivera, Sal Maglie and Roger Clemens, Walter O'Malley and George Steinbrenner. Here's hoping Zim has another half-century's worth of stories left in that massive belly of his.