And former Red Sox manager Don Zimmer and Jackie Robinson, played golf.
Zimmer and Robinson were Brooklyn Dodger teammates from 1954 through 1956.
Some interesting tidbits about the former Sox skipper.
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His first managing job was in 1967 with the Knoxville Smokies, the double A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. He was 36 years old and he pitched in 12 games that season, the only pitching he ever did in his entire professional career which included 12 years in the majors.
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“Popeye” managed for 13 seasons in the majors winning 885 games with four different teams.
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In 1989 he was named the National League “Manager of the Year” after piloting the Cubs to first place in the NL East.
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He is one of only four Red Sox managers to have three consecutive seasons of 90+ wins.
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From 1977 through 1979 he averaged 96 wins a year.
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In five seasons with Boston he went 411-304 for a .575 winning percentage.
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He replaced Darrell Johnson as Red Sox skipper 86 games into the 1976 season.
He was at the helm in 1978 when the Red Sox won 99 games, their most wins in a season since 1946. That number has not been equaled since.
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He was a member of the 1955 World Champion Brooklyn Dodgers.
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He made the National League All Star team in 1961 while playing for the Chicago Cubs.
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Joe Torre made him his right hand man as a bench coach with the New York Yankees from 1996-2003.
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The Montreal Expos, San Francisco Giants, Colorado Rockies and Tampa Bay Rays employed “Zim” as a coach.
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He worked as an on field player, coach or manager in professional baseball from 1949 through 2006.
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At 81 years of age he is still employed by the Tampa Bay Rays.
And so it is on this day in Fenway Park history, June 10, 2012.
About fenwaypark100
Hello and welcome, my name is Raymond Sinibaldi. A retired history teacher, after 26 years in the classroom, a baseball fan for three score and five, I have authored 13 books. Eight about baseball and her glorious history; most recently Yankees in the Hall of Fame and Dodgers in the Hall of Fame. An aficionado of the Kennedy Administration, I have written four books in that realm and also co-authored a book of motivational stories for coaches. The first, The Babe in Red Stockings which was co-authored with Kerry Keene and David Hickey and released in 1997. It is a chronicle of Babe's days with the Red Sox. We also penned a screenplay about Babe's Red Sox days so if any of you are Hollywood inclined or would like to represent us in forwarding that effort feel free to contact me. In 2012 we three amigos published Images of Fenway Park in honor of the 100th birthday of Fenway Park. That led to the creation of this blog. The following year, 2013 came my first solo venture, Spring Training in Bradenton and Sarasota. This is a pictorial history of spring training in those two Florida cities. The spring of 2014 brought forth the 1967 Red Sox, The Impossible Dream Season. The title speaks for itself, and it also is a pictorial history. Many of the photos in this book were never published before. The spring of 2015 brought 1975 Red Sox, American League Champions. Another pictorial effort, this will be about the Red Sox championship season of 1975 and the World Series that restored baseball in America. The spring of 2016 brought 61 Motivational Stories for Every Coach of Every Sport. My first JFK effort was in 2017 with John F Kennedy in New England, which was followed by JFK From Florida to the Moon (2019) and JFK At Rest in Arlington (2020). Jackie's Newport came about in 2019 and in 2023 came both Yankees in the Hall of Fame and Dodgers in the Hall of Fame. I was fortunate enough to consult with sculptor Franc Talarico on the “Jimmy Fund” statue of Ted Williams which stands outside both Fenway Park and Jet Blue Park Fenway South, in Fort Myers Florida. That story is contained in the near 300 posts which are contained herein. Throughout the years this blog has morphed from an exclusive Red Sox focus, to a broader baseball perspective to a blog about life, with baseball a large portion of it. This year, 2024, I have reactivated this blog which lay dormant for quite some time. Welcome aboard, pass the word and feel free to contact me about anything you read or ideas you may have for a topic. Email me at fenwaypark100@gmail.com.
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