The baseball world lost a true great today when Donald William Zimmer passed away today at 83 years young. Don was known for his happy attitude about baseball excluding when he attempted to tackle Pedro Martinez. Don was a friend of my grandfathers who worked in the Cubs organization from the 40s-80s including being the General Manager in 1976. Don and my grandparents would exchange Christmas cards every year and when I was in 5th grade (rather new to the TTM world) I sent off a letter to Don asking for him to sign my two cards which I have included and I asked him what it was like to be teammates with Jackie Robinson not expecting a response on that a week or two later I got this letter back from him and it left me in awe to think somebody of that high class and famous would take the time to hand write me a letter and acknowledge my grandparents is a true friend of the collectors. His feat does not stop there, my father sent him a TTM in 2001 and explained he was the son in law of his long time friend aka my grandfather and don signed the card and added in a 2001 New York Yankees team signed baseball including Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera among all the other Yankee greats to play that year is one of the most generous things a ball player has done autograph wise. My condolences to his wife Soot who was married to him for many years. Baseball is weaker today after losing a man who put on a uniform for 7 decades. His presence will be missed throughout all of baseball we have lost a true ambassador.
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| Don Zimmer TTM Return |
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| Don Zimmer TTM Return |
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| The Letter that Don wrote me, a piece of history that I will cherish for ever. |
Donald William Zimmer
January 17, 1931 - June 4, 2014
Baseball god
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