In a somber piece of not only Yankees news, but baseball news as a whole, Major League Baseball lost one of its greatest characters on Wednesday as former New York Yankees bench coach Don Zimmer passed away at the age of 83.
Per Bill Madden of the New York Daily News, "Zimmer, 83, died early Wednesday evening at BayCare Alliant Hospital in Dunedin, Fla., where he had been for the past few weeks after first undergoing heart-valve surgery and then being diagnosed with fibrosis on his lungs. He had also been having dialysis treatments for the last couple of years."
Yankees managing partner/co-chairperson Hal Steinbrenner has fond memories of Zimmer from his time working under Steinbrenner's father, "The Boss" George Steinbrenner.
“Don spent a lifetime doing what he loved. He was an original — a passionate, old-school, one-of-a-kind baseball man who contributed to a memorable era in Yankees history,” said Hal Steinbrenner, via the New York Daily News. “The baseball community will certainly feel this loss. On behalf of our organization, we offer our deepest condolences to his wife, Soot, their two children and four grandchildren.”
Zimmer is survived by his wife, Soot, who he married at home plate at minor league game in Elmira, NY back in 1951, his daughter Donna, four grandchildren, and an entire world of baseball people who adored him.
“I hired him as a coach, and he became like a family member to me. He has certainly been a terrific credit to the game,” said former Yankee manager and current MLB executive vice president Joe Torre. “The game was his life. And his passing is going to create a void in my life and my wife Ali’s. We loved him."
"The game of baseball lost a special person tonight. He was a good man.”
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