Don Zimmer - a former Major League Baseball player, manager and coach who spent a total of 66 years in a professional uniform - passed away yesterday.
He was 83 years old.
Zimmer played alongside Jackie Robinson on the last Brookyln Dodgers team to win a World Series and then served as bench coach to Joe Torre during the Yankees’ dynasty in the 1990s.
He also managed a total of 13 seasons and was serving as the senior advisor on the Tampa Bay Rays at the time of his death.
"Today we all lost a national treasure and a wonderful man," Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg said in a statement.
A teary-eyed Joe Girardi referred to mimer as a “great baseball man and a mentor,” while Derek Jeter told reporters after last night’s loss:
"Zim was around when I first came up. He was someone that taught me a lot about the game -- he's been around, he's pretty much seen everything. His stories, his experiences."
Zimmer batted .235 in big Big League career and won 6 World Series titles overall.
Zimmer is survived by his wife; son Thomas, a scout with the San Francisco Giants; daughter Donna, and four grandchildren.
