don zimmer, double dipper and birthday boy

it's another in a recent spate of birthday posts!  don zimmer hits 80 years young today, so let's celebrate by recalling how he was a dodger double dipper!

zim was signed by the brooklyn dodgers in the late '40's and made his debut for them in 1954.  he was a member of the 1955 world champions, playing second, short, and third in 88 games that year.  in the fall classic, he was 2 for 9 with 2 rbi and 5 k's. 

zimmer moved to los angeles with the team and appeared in the 1959 world series, this time going hitless in his lone at bat.  still, he won his second world series ring as the dodgers beat the white sox.  just before the start of the 1960 season, zimmer was traded to the cubs for ron perranoski and others.  he spent two years with the cubs as their second baseman, and was named to the national league all-star team in 1961. 

the mets selected him in the 1961 expansion round after the season, and zim became the first third baseman in mets history.  in their first game, zimmer got the franchise's second hit - one of just 4 hits he would make as a met.  the mets lost each of the first 13 games zimmer played in before winning his 14th start.  that would be his final game as a met as he was traded to the reds for a couple of players, including bob miller.  that trade resulted in this fantastic and somewhat confusing 1962 topps card

a few months later, when zimmer was traded back to the dodgers prior to the start of the 1963 season, topps took a different photo from that shoot and put in on the gerbil's 1963 card, establishing him as a double dipper.

zimmer's return to la was short lived, however, as his contract was purchased by the washington senators 22 games into his second stint as a dodger.  zimmer played out the rest of his career in washington, retiring as a player after the 1965 season. 

as a dodger, zimmer appeared in a total of 459 games and hit .228.  during his time away from the club, he played in 337 games and hit .245.  after leaving la for the last time, zimmer played in 299 games and hit .235. 

here's to you, don zimmer!  happy birthday!

[this is the eighth installment in the double dippers posts.  here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, and dave anderson.]