Zim: A Baseball Life

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

Book Description
In Zim, one of baseball's most eccentric characters and storytellers chronicles his life in the sport, from playing high school ball in Cincinnati to his current role as bench coach for the New York Yankees. Don Zimmer's career has crossed paths with the game's most memorable people and events, and Zim includes them all, from Babe Ruth, who lauded Zim's team a year before he died, to the Brooklyn Dodgers, who drafted him as a potential heir to shortstop Pee Wee Reese, to Casey Stengel, who Zimmer played for as one of the original New York Mets. Accounts of his tragedies — two life-threatening beanings — and triumphs — managing the San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers, and Chicago Cubs — give a panoramic history of both the man and the sport.