Zim: A Baseball Life

Zim: A Baseball Life

The current bench coach of the New York Yankees shares details of his colorful life in baseball, from Babe Ruth to Casey Stengel and beyond. 35,000 first printing. $35,000 ad/promo. 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 Zimmer has spent 53 years in baseball, and though he'll never make the Hall of Fame, he has become something of a national treasure. He began his career with the fabled Brooklyn Dodgers alongside Jackie Robinson. He has managed and coached many of the game's greats and has lately gained fame as Joe Torre's right-hand man. Ever since his recent dugout beaning by a foul ball, Zim has been seen in a New York Yankee army helmet, symbolic of his true grit. Readers nationwide will love this tale. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. Don Zimmer, currently a coach for the New York Yankees, has been in baseball forever. As a player, he was managed by Walter Alston and Casey Stengel and counted numerous Hall-of-Famers as his teammates; as a manager, he instructed another generation of all-stars. Coauthor Madden, an award-winning columnist for the New York Daily News, gives Zimmer's story the perfect tone: it's as if we were sitting down with Zim for a few beers and a long night of great stories. Fortunately, Zimmer is no Pollyanna. He liked some guys, didn't like others, and is happy to name names. For instance, he calls Bill "Spaceman" Lee, who pitched for Zimmer on the Boston Red Sox, a "mean-spirited jerk," and he claims unequivocally that he was bounced from his managerial job with the Chicago Cubs due to politics within the Chicago Tribune, the team's parent company. Baseball may be a great game, but Zimmer has always understood that it's also a business. It's that reality-based foundation that gives this memoir its zip. Fascinating reading for baseball fans. Wes Lukowsky Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved "...the season's most promising baseball book... Consider "Zim" your 278-page baseball education." -- Mark Hale, New York Daily News, April 1, 2000 "Bill Madden has turned [Don Zimmer's life] into one hell of a book. Check it out: Zim: A Baseball Life." -- Mark Kriegel, New York Daily News, March 23, 2001 "If you read one baseball book this spring this is the one....it's like eating chocolate - you just can't stop" -- Suzyn Waldman, WFAN Radio, April 4, 2000 "On every page, [Zimmer] is there to be appreciated .....for his wisdom, his humor and for just being himself. -- Dave Anderson, New York Times, March 18, 2001 "There will be no snoozing with Zim ... unusually blunt in his assessment of people. Fascinating reading for baseball fans." -- Dermot McEvoy, Publishers Weekly "Zim: A Baseball Life... may be the best decision the Yankee coach ever made" -- Dave Anderson, New York Times, March 18, 2001 "Zimmer speaks plainly, humorously, wisely, engagingly and plainly....If you're a baseball fan, you are almost certain to enjoy Zim." -- Bruce Lowitt, St. Petersburg Times, April 8, 2001 "[Zim] is brutally honest and filled with amusing anecdotes, a cut above the average baseball autobiography." -- PW Forecasts, Publishers Weekly, March 26, 2001 "it's as if we were sitting down with Zim for a few beers and a long night of great stories" -- Booklist, Febuary 15, 2001 Original hardback signed coll