Baseball icon Zimmer dies at 83

Source: MLB

He had the jowls of Dizzy Gillespie, the chins of Alfred Hitchcock and the forearms of Olive Oyl's favorite sailor man. For most of his 83 years, he had a haircut that required minimum maintenance and a quick, disarming smile that significantly widened his face and belied his sense of purpose. Well before his time came, he had developed a silhouette like no other in the game. If nothing else, Don Zimmer was distinctive, a ball of distinction, you might say -- no corners, no angles, no edges. So round he almost was spherical.

Zimmer, a baseball icon for the past six decades, passed away on Wednesday. He was 83.

He was likened to Popeye, Jabba The Hutt and even a gerbil, and he happily acknowledged he never had been mistaken for Cary Grant or one of the hunky James Bonds actors.

The priceless malapropism of the late Giants and Mets manager Wes Westrum seemingly applied more to Zim than to anyone else in the game. "When they made him," Westrum's quote went, "they threw away the molding."

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