Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Baseball: Don Zimmer has passed away


Wikipedia: Zimmer signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers as an amateur free agent in 1949. He played in MLB with the Dodgers (1954–1959, 1963), Chicago Cubs (1960–1961), New York Mets (1962), Cincinnati Reds (1962), and Washington Senators (1963–1965). He also played for the Toei Flyers of Nippon Professional Baseball in 1966. Zimmer also saw action in the Latin American winter baseball leagues, specifically in Cuba with the Tigres de Marianao and a team in Cienfuegos, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Zimmer was nicknamed "El Galleguito" (The Gallegan) in Cuba and "El Soldadito" (The small soldier) in Mexico and Puerto Rico.
During a minor league game on July 7, 1953, Zimmer was struck by a pitch thrown by pitcher Jim Kirk, causing Zimmer to faint. He suffered a brain injury and coagulant, which required surgery. He woke up two weeks later, thinking that it was the day after the game where the incident took place. This led to Major League Baseball adopting batting helmets as a safety measure to be used by players when at-bat. Phil Rizzuto was the first player to use the batting helmets. (in Spanish)
Zimmer was the Red Sox manager when I first arrived to this country. My father had a nickname for him, he called him "buchito" (puffed cheeks).

32 comments:

The Dude said...

He suffered a coagulant? Who the fuck wrote that? They need someone more dessicated to English to write these things.

Brain damage, Senator - as someone who grew up rooting for those hapless bums, I would say that playing for the Senators does not require brain damage, but it helps.

ndspinelli said...

I played craps w/ the Gerbil @ the MGM in Detroit. At the table were Torre, Mazzilli, and Stottelmeyer. Zimmer was the clown w/ the others rubbing his head for good luck. The Yanks had just clinched their division and the boys were celebrating.

Chip S. said...

Bill Lee had a nickname for him, too.

The Gerbil.

Chip S. said...

Spinelli beats me to "the gerbil", and w/ a good story, too.

ndspinelli said...

Sixty, I just read your comment to my bride and she laughed heartily. She says hello.

ndspinelli said...

ChipS, I didn't know who dubbed him that nickname. I took my daughter to MoTown to see her hero, Jeter. Her husband just got tix for her birthday to see Jeter @ Target Field his last time there.

The Dude said...

Aw, that is very kind. Say hey back, and tell her that I am looking forward to her next book.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

He suffered a coagulant? Who the fuck wrote that?

At the end of that paragraph the following words appear... (in Spanish)

I don't quite know what they mean by that.

Chip S. said...

♬Mem-reeeez…♪

edutcher said...

Remember him from the days in Brooklyn.

Those were great players.

ricpic said...

Good field, no hit.

Chip S. said...

Good field, no hit

bad manage

The Dude said...

He stuck the landing, however.

Chip S. said...

Yep, a three-pointer.

I think that was the number of bolts in his head.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I don't know if this is the medical word... but the word for "coagulant" that I believe they translated from Spanish is "cuagulo".

That's my best guessulant.

Trooper York said...

Are they going to freeze his noggin Lem?

Shouting Thomas said...

We called him "Popeye" in Chicago.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Should have seen that coming.

deborah said...

I'm reminded of this guy:

"Raymond Johnson Chapman (January 15, 1891 – August 17, 1920) was an American baseball player, spending his entire career as a shortstop for Cleveland.

Chapman was hit in the head by a pitch thrown by Yankees pitcher Carl Mays, and died 12 hours later. He remains the only Major League Baseball player to have died from an injury received at a major league baseball game.[1][2] His death led to Major League Baseball establishing a rule requiring umpires to replace the ball whenever it became dirty, and it was partially the reason the spitball was banned after the 1920 season. Chapman's death was also one of the examples used to emphasize the need for wearing batting helmets (although the rule was not adopted until over 30 years later)."
-Wiki

The worst was that pitcher who got hit directly in the face by a returned pitch.

The Dude said...

I always suspected that Tony Conigliaro's death was related to being hit by a pitch. He lived and worked for another 15 years, but he was never quite right after that incident.

Maybe that is a bit of a stretch to connect his untimely passing to his injury, or not, but he is the guy I remember from back when I used to care about the game.

Now they can all go away.

deborah said...

Conigliaro, that name's a blast from the past. Looking him up, I see he had a heart attack followed by stroke and died eight years later in a vegetative state at the age of 45.

Yeah, 37 is young for a heart attack/stroke. I wonder if there is speculation the stroke came first?

Thanks for bringing him up, I was not aware of his story.

The Dude said...

He was the sports guy on tv when I lived in the Bay Area, that's how I remember him.

Who knows - maybe that blow to the head didn't play a role in his demise, but we will never know.

Third Coast said...

IIRC, Bill "Spaceman" Lee was the guy that first called Zimmerman "the gerbil". Zimmerman was Lee's manager at the time.
The worst was that pitcher who got hit directly in the face by a returned pitch.
Herb Score of the Indians hit by a line drive off the bat of Yankee Gil McDougald in 1957. I was on the verge of a great Little League career at the time and remember Score's face as being a bloody mess. The injury almost killed him and his career.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Where you from Lem? Were you and your Dad baseball fans before you got here or did the Red Sox pull you into their vortex?

ndspinelli said...

Sixty, Tony C had a younger brother, Billy, who played in the majors. Like you, I always wondered if the trauma of that beaning didn't shorten his life. Billy is 66, so maybe not hereditary.

Chip Ahoy said...

Chicklit, this is what I meant by a draft hanging there. I don't know when to publish as yours pends. From my pov you can publish the next moment or pend for hours or even days.

Trooper York said...

(Lucifer strides into Hell in shorts and a Hawaiian shirt smoking a cigar and scratching his balls. He does that a lot. That's why they call him old scratch) Lucifer: How the fuck are you Forcas? Aah who the fuck am I kidding I don't give a shit. I'm back from vacation so let's get to work.
Forcas: Vacation? I thought you were sick my Dread Lord. Lucifer: Yeah. My black heart started to fail. It filled up with water and goo and shit. I had to get a pacemaker. You believe that shit. But I got to spend a weekend at the Hamptons. That’s where all the demons and devils and monsters hang out. You know. White people. So do we have any new candidates?
Forcas: Well we have several new candidates you can choose from. There is the famous pretentious black female poet!
Lucifer: Really. That that doesn’t narrow it down. They are all pretentious bitches. Is it Gwendolyn Brooks? She is pretty talented
Forcas: No my dread Lord. It is Maya Angelou. Lucifer. Oh no. not that no talent cunt. I can’t listen to that shit. I already live in hell. Send out to be Nathan Bedford Forrest’s Maid. She can cook him pancakes and get butt fucked. He won’t enjoy it anyway. He gets there fastest with the moistest that quick draw ejaculating motherfucker. Who else do we have?
Forcas: We have famous baseball legend Don Zimmer.
Lucifer: Holy Ted Williams disembodied noggin! The Gerbil. Get him in here right now Don Zimmer(slides down the stairwell to hell and tumbles at the feet of Satan and his right hand fallen angel Forcas. He blearily rolls over and drops the racing form and the bottle of ExLax that he was holding) What the fuck...where am I? Is that you Buckner?
Lucifer: You are in Hell Zimmer! Welcome. I bet you thought you were in Hell all the times the times you had to stick your head up Tom Yawkey’s ass. He loved the feel of your big bald head up in his bowels. That’s why he called you the gerbil. Now you are home. Think of this as the Fenway Park! Cause it is fuckin Hell.
Don Zimmer: How the fuck did I end up in Hell? I was a Yankee all those fuckin’ years! I know that Yankees never go to Hell! What the fuck?
Lucifer: Seriously you moron. You are not a true Yankee like Mantle or DiMaggio or Celerino Sanchez. You are a Cub. And a Red Sox. You know. A fuckin’ loser.
Don Zimmer: You mean I put up with George for nothing. Shit.
Lucifer: Look you big dummy. You were one of the worst managers in baseball history and you were a big part of the Red Sox. History. So straight to Hell!Forcas!
Forcas: Yes Sire. (two burly demons drag Don away and dump in a pit ) What do you want done with him.
Lucifer: Oh I don’t know. Tell you what. Have go down on Eleanor Roosevelt and stick his bald head up her twat. Her smelly twat. That should be hell for both of them. Forcas: Yes sire.
Lucifer: Have Marilyn and Ava Gardner come up to my room. I am horny. Tits.

Trooper York said...
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Trooper York said...
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Trooper York said...

Sorry for the triple post.

I guess even with just a post about Zimmer you get a bunch of errors.

deborah said...

TC, I didn't know about Herb Score, thanks. But this is the guy I meant, Bryce Florie. Score is mentioned first in the list. I didn't know there was a term for this, a 'comebacker.'

deborah said...

Trooper...in the corner!