Last week we lost one of the truly great baseball characters. Don Zimmer was baseball. He was married at home plate to his high school sweetheart before a minor league game. He began playing professional baseball 1949 in the Brooklyn Dodgers farm system. He played Major League ball from 1954-1966. He played in Japan in 1966 then became a player manager in the Cincinnati farm system in 1967. He has been a coach or manager right up until his death last week at 83.
In 1962 Topps used a photo of "Popeye" wearing a Mets uniform but listed as a Red.
Zimmer only played 14 games for New York in 1962 before being traded to Cincinnati. In January 1963 the Reds traded Zimmer to the Dodgers. Topps once again used an airbrushed photo of Zimmer in a Mets uniform.
Although the Reds traded him before the start of the 1963 season, I decided to have his 1963 Fleer card depict him in a Reds uniform. Mainly because I have never seen a card with him as a Red.
Nice job! When I saw this come up on a blogroll, my first reaction was "Zim's in the 1963 Fleer set?"
ReplyDelete...until I saw which blog it was from, and I realized what I was looking at.
Excellent job on the 1963 Fleer!
ReplyDeleteThere will never be another like "Zim".
R.I.P.