Don Zimmer, RIP -- June 7, 2014

Everyone in baseball, players, coaches, executives and fans, was sad to learn of the passing of Don Zimmer.  He spent more than 65 years in professional baseball, and never had a job in another field.  He nearly died in 1953 when he got beaned during a minor league game, but he went on to have a full career and a full life with metal screws in his skull. 

Zim was a teammate of Jackie Robinson and played for Casey Stengel as an Original Met.  He coached for the Giants in 1987 under Roger Craig, another Original Met.  They won the National League West but lost the league championship to the Cardinals.  I still think the Giants would have done better than the Cardinals did against the Twins in the World Series.  The Giants defeated his Cubs for the 1989 pennant. 

I was impressed by the number of young players who spoke highly of him. 

In other news, California Chrome tied for fourth in the Belmont Stakes, so he did not win the Triple Crown.  After the race, one of his owners went ballistic on network television.  He felt that horses should be required to run in all three races.