#99 Don Zimmer - Brooklyn Dodgers

Donald William Zimmer
Brooklyn Dodgers
Second Base

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Left  Height:  5'9"  Weight:  165
Born:  January 17, 1931, Cincinnati, OH
Signed:  Signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers as an amateur free agent before 1949 season
Major League Teams:  Brooklyn Dodgers 1954-1957; Los Angeles Dodgers 1958-1959; Chicago Cubs 1960-1961; New York Mets 1962; Cincinnati Reds 1962; Los Angeles Dodgers 1963; Washington Senators 1963-1965
As a Manager:  San Diego Padres 1972-1973; Boston Red Sox 1976-1980; Texas Rangers 1981-1982; Chicago Cubs 1988-1991
Died:  June 4, 2014, Dunedin, FL (age 83)

1978 Topps #63

Before he was a successful big league manager and coach, Don Zimmer played 12 seasons and was an All-Star with the Cubs in 1961.  He enjoyed his best season with the Dodgers in 1958, attaining career highs in batting average (.262), home runs (17) and RBIs (60) as the team's everyday shortstop.  He won two World Series rings with the Dodgers in 1955 and 1959.  In 1953, he was hit in the head with a pitch thrown by Jim Kirk and was knocked unconscious for two weeks.  The incident led to the introduction of protective batting helmets.  He was briefly an original member of the expansion Mets in 1962 and he played part of a season in Japan in 1966 with the Toei Flyers.

His coaching career saw him spend time with the Expos (1971), Padres (1972), Red Sox (1974-1976, 1992), Yankees (1983, 1986, 1996-2003), Cubs (1984-1986), Giants (1987), Rockies (1993-1995) and Devil Rays/Rays (2004-2014).  As a manager, Zimmer had a lifetime record of 885-858.  His Red Sox teams won over 90 games in 1977, 1978 and 1979 and he led the Cubs to an N.L. East pennant in 1989.  He won the N.L. Manager of Year Award that year.  Zimmer spent 66 years in professional baseball, and the Rays, for whom he was coaching at the time of his death, retired his #66 in 2015 to celebrate that milestone and to pay tribute to their coach.

Building the Set
June 24, 1989 in Ocean City, NJ - Card #77
My Dad and I purchased this card at the Ocean City IX baseball card show held within the Ocean City Music Pier on the boardwalk.  I have in my notes that we paid $2.50 for this card, along with the cards of Jim Finigan (#22) and Nelson Burbrink (#27).  I would have just finished my freshman year of high school when we bought this card and I was in the middle of collecting the 1973 Topps set.

The windows would have been open inside the showroom floor, and the sounds and smells of the shore served as the background as I poured through binders or boxes of baseball cards.  Above the din of the collectors looking for bargains and dealers hawking their wares, you could hear the occasional sea gull or even the crashing of waves.  I miss those shows and I become more and more nostalgic about them every year.  A perfect day with my Dad would consist of walking among the dozens of tables of baseball cards, finding cards for our sets and taking a break with a birch beer and a slice from Mack & Manco's.

I keep the postcard featured here in my 1988-1989 Phillies baseball card binder.  There's a thumbtack hole in the top left corner, which means at one point it hung on the bulletin board in my bedroom.  The 9th Seashore Baseball Card & Sports Memorabilia Show featured two autograph signers for the weekend - Dick Sisler and Jim Bunning.  My Dad didn't like driving at night, which is why we wouldn't have stuck around for Bunning on Saturday.  I probably never realized we had missed our chance at meeting Sisler the night before, and the names Sisler and Bunning meant nowhere as much to me then as they do now.

The Card
That's a fantastic posed action shot showing Zimmer in mid-air about to make the throw to first.  The main photo is the same used for his 1955 Topps rookie card.  The back calls attention to his timely hitting, prowess as a defender at second base and his speed on the basepaths.  All things I wouldn't have imagined Zimmer had been capable of, knowing what I knew about the Cubs manager when we bought this card in 1989.

Zimmer and Jim Gilliam (#280) had a platoon in 1955 with the Dodgers at second base, with the right-handed batting Zimmer starting 62 games there and the switch-hitting Gilliam starting 91 games.  Zimmer also was the only back-up at shortstop needed for Pee Wee Reese (#260) as Reese started 142 games with Zimmer spelling him 12 times.

Dodgers Team Set

1956 Season

Zimmer only played in 17 games for the Dodgers, hitting .300 (6 for 20) with a pair of RBIs.  He had started the season serving as Reese's back-up at short, but he was hit by Hal Jeffcoat (#289) fastball on June 23rd, breaking his cheekbone and ending his season.

1955 Bowman #65

1959 Topps #287

1965 Topps #233

1982 Donruss #195

1991 Topps #729

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1955 Bowman #65
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (22):  1955-1965, 1973-1974, 1977-1981, 1988-1991
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2014 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-DZ

Topps gave Zimmer a 1954 Topps inspired card in its 1994 Topps Archives release.  His 1956 Topps card was reprinted in the 1995 Topps Archives Brooklyn Dodgers set.

158 - Zimmer non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 3/29/20.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia

In some cases, the first and last cards listed above are subjective and chosen by me if multiple cards were released within the same year.  Most recent mainstream card may also be subjective and does not include extremely low serial numbered cards, buybacks or cut autograph cards.

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Set Order: #98 Camilo Pascual - Washington Nationals / #100 Baltimore Orioles Team Card

Order Collected: #27 Nelson Burbrink - St. Louis Cardinals / #72 Philadelphia Phillies Team Card