{{Short description|American baseball player (1934–1998)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox baseball biography | name = Jerry Zimmerman | image =1979 Minnesota Twins Postcards Jerry Zimmerman.jpg | position = Catcher | bats = Right | throws = Right | birth_date = {{Birth date|1934|9|21}} | birth_place = Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1998|9|9|1934|9|21}} | death_place = Neskowin, Oregon, U.S. |debutleague = MLB | debutdate = April 14 | debutyear = 1961 | debutteam = Cincinnati Reds |finalleague = MLB | finaldate = September 22 | finalyear = 1968 | finalteam = Minnesota Twins |statleague = MLB | stat1label = Batting average | stat1value = .204 | stat2label = Home runs | stat2value = 3 | stat3label = Runs batted in | stat3value = 72 | teams = '''As player''' * Cincinnati Reds ({{Baseball year|1961}}) * Minnesota Twins ({{Baseball year|1962}}–{{Baseball year|1968}}) '''As coach''' * Montreal Expos ({{mlby|1969}}–{{mlby|1975}}) * Minnesota Twins ({{mlby|1976}}–{{mlby|1980}}) | highlights = *Last coach to umpire a major league game (August 25, 1978). }} '''Gerald Robert Zimmerman''' (September 21, 1934 – September 9, 1998) was an American professional baseball player and coach. He appeared in almost 500 games over eight seasons in Major League Baseball for the Cincinnati Reds and Minnesota Twins from {{mlby|1961}} to {{mlby|1968}}, primarily as a catcher. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, he attended Milwaukie High School in Oregon.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/Z/Jerry-Zimmerman.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090815080441/http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/Z/jerry-zimmerman.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=2009-08-15 |title=Jerry Zimmerman – The Baseball Cube |access-date=2009-02-09 }}</ref>
== Playing career ==
=== Minor leagues === During his active career, Zimmerman threw and batted right-handed, stood {{convert|6|ft|2|in}} tall and weighed {{convert|185|lb}}. He was signed at age 17 by the Boston Red Sox to an $80,000 bonus contract<ref name="JeZi">[https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/jerry-zimmerman/ King, Norm, ''Jerry Zimmerman,''] Society for American Baseball Research Biography Project</ref> as an amateur free agent in 1952.<ref name=br>{{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/z/zimmeje01.shtml|title=Jerry Zimmerman Statistics – Baseball-Reference.com|accessdate=2007-04-14}}</ref> Zimmerman progressed slowly through the Red Sox' farm system, not reaching the Double-A level until 1957. The following year, 1958, he was promoted to the Minneapolis Millers, Boston's Triple-A farm club, where his manager was Gene Mauch.<ref name=cool>{{cite web|url=http://www.cooloftheevening.com/jerry_zimmerman.htm|title=Cool of the Evening: Jerry Zimmerman|accessdate=2007-04-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170714082306/http://www.cooloftheevening.com/jerry_zimmerman.htm|archive-date=2017-07-14|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>[https://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/team.cgi?id=25147 1958 Minneapolis Millers at Baseball Reference]</ref> Led by Mauch, and with Zimmerman catching, the Millers won the American Association and Junior World Series championships.<ref name="JeZi"/> However, a prolonged batting slump during the early months of the next season spurred the Red Sox to release Zimmerman on July 16, 1959. He was picked up by the Baltimore Orioles on the same day,<ref name=br/> but his slump continued in the Pacific Coast League, and two months later, on September 25, the Orioles released Zimmerman as well.
The Cincinnati Reds then signed him as free agent, and he spent the full 1960 campaign with their Triple-A affiliate, the Seattle Rainiers, where he batted .279 (a 100-point improvement over his previous year's average) with six home runs in 82 games.<ref name=br/> The Reds then placed him on their 40-man winter roster.
=== Major leagues ===
==== Cincinnati Reds ==== Zimmerman finally got his big break in {{mlby|1961}}. He made the Cincinnati squad out of spring training as a backup and when the Reds traded away starting catcher Ed Bailey in late April, Zimmerman not only secured a roster spot, he became the club's most-used receiver during their National League pennant-winning season. He appeared in 76 games behind the plate, starting 64, and caught 546<small>{{fraction|2|3}}</small> innings.<ref>Retrosheet: [https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1961/UPCIN01961.htm 1961 Cincinnati Reds roster]</ref>
Zimmerman's rookie batting average was only .206, but—apart from the production of late-season pickup Darrell Johnson—it led the team's catchers, with Johnny Edwards, a fellow rookie and a future NL All-Star, hitting .186 and Bob Schmidt, obtained for Bailey, hitting .129.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CIN/1961.shtml |title=1961 Cincinnati Reds Statistics and Roster |access-date=2007-04-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070501042432/http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CIN/1961.shtml |archive-date=2007-05-01 }}</ref> In the 1961 World Series, Zimmerman appeared in two games as a late-inning defensive substitution and had no at bats, as the Reds lost to the New York Yankees, four games to one.<ref>[https://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1961_WS.shtml 1961 World Series at Baseball Reference]</ref>
==== Minnesota Twins ==== Almost four months after the World Series, Zimmerman was traded on January 30, 1962 to the Minnesota Twins for Dan Dobbek.<ref name=br/> He played with the Twins for seven seasons, serving mostly as a backup for Earl Battey. When the Twins won the 1965 American League pennant, Zimmerman was one of the few players on the team with previous postseason experience.<ref name=cool/> He appeared in two games for Minnesota in the 1965 World Series and, in his only Fall Classic at bat, ended Game 3 by bouncing into a double play against Claude Osteen.<ref>Retrosheet [https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1965/B10090LAN1965.htm box score (9 October 1965): "Los Angeles Dodgers 4, Minnesota Twins 0" (1965 World Series, Game 3)]</ref> The Twins lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games.<ref>[https://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1965_WS.shtml 1965 World Series at Baseball Reference]</ref>
In 1967, Zimmerman played in 104 games as Battey was troubled by health issues;<ref name=br/> his 692<small>{{fraction|1|3}}</small> innings caught were tops on the team that season.<ref>Retrosheet: [https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1967/UPMIN01967.htm 1967 Minnesota Twins roster]</ref> In addition to his service as an active player, Zimmerman also functioned as the club's unofficial bullpen coach, as the Twins only employed three full-time coaches in 1967.<ref name=cool/> The season featured a furious, four-team pennant race that went down to the campaign's final weekend. Minnesota was in the league lead with two games left, but the club lost its final two games to the Red Sox and finished the season tied with the Detroit Tigers for second place.<ref>[https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/1967.shtml 1967 American League season at Baseball Reference]</ref> After Battey's release in the off-season, the Twins traded for catcher John Roseboro, and Zimmerman went back to being a reserve player during the 1968 season. He was released by the Twins on March 18, 1969.<ref name=br/>
=== Career statistics === In an eight-year major league career, Zimmerman played in 483 games, accumulating 203 hits in 994 at bats for a .204 career batting average along with 3 home runs and 72 runs batted in.<ref name=br/> Although he was a light-hitting player, Zimmerman was a good defensive catcher, leading the American League in 1965 with a .997 fielding percentage and had a career fielding percentage of .991.<ref name=br/><ref>[https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/1965-fielding-leaders.shtml 1965 American League Fielding Leaders at Baseball Reference]</ref>
==Coaching career== Zimmerman's coaching career began in earnest in March {{mlby|1969}} when Gene Mauch named him the bullpen coach of the expansion Montreal Expos, then in their first season. He worked as a member of Mauch's staff for the next dozen years, from 1969 to 1975 with Montreal,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://baseballbiography.com/jerry-zimmerman-1934|title=Jerry Zimmerman|accessdate=2009-02-09}}</ref> then with the Twins from 1976 to 1980.
He umpired a game on August 25, 1978, in Toronto during an umpires' strike.<ref name=cool/> Zimmerman and Don Leppert, his counterpart with the Blue Jays as a coach-umpire, are the last two active coaches to umpire a Major League game. He then scouted for the Yankees and Orioles during the 1980s.
Jerry Zimmerman died in Neskowin, Oregon, from a heart attack at the age of 63.<ref name=JeZi/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Baseballstats |br=z/zimmeje01 |fangraphs=1014445|brm=zimmer001ger}} *[https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=zimmeje01 Baseball Almanac]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmerman, Jerry}} Category:1934 births Category:1998 deaths Category:Albany Senators players Category:American expatriate baseball players in Canada Category:Baltimore Orioles scouts Category:Baseball players from Omaha, Nebraska Category:Cincinnati Reds players Category:Corning Red Sox players Category:Greensboro Patriots players Category:Major League Baseball bullpen coaches Category:Major League Baseball catchers Category:Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players Category:Minnesota Twins coaches Category:Minnesota Twins players Category:Montreal Expos coaches Category:New York Yankees scouts Category:Oklahoma City Indians players Category:San Jose Red Sox players Category:Seattle Rainiers players Category:Sportspeople from Milwaukie, Oregon Category:Baseball players from Clackamas County, Oregon Category:Vancouver Mounties players Category:20th-century American sportsmen