Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about baseball and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the baseball urban legends featured so far.

BASEBALL URBAN LEGEND: A Rockies coach quit the team (and retired from baseball) in the middle of a game!

Like few other people in the world of baseball, it can definitely be said that Don Zimmer’s whole life pretty much revolved around the game of baseball (not counting his family, of course).

After making the big leagues as a player in 1954, Zimmer pretty much has been working in baseball ever since!

After his days as a player, he worked as a coach and as a manager for a number of teams, including the San Diego Padres, the Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox.

In 1993, he was part of the very first coaching staff of the expansion baseball team, the Colorado Rockies.

He served as the bench coach for Manager Don Baylor (bench coaches serve as advisers to the manager and are also sort of insurance for the manager if the manager gets ejected or has to miss time for whatever reason. In addition, when a manager is fired, quite often the bench coach will become the interim manager).

A few things changed going into the 1995 season, however.

For one, Zimmer had a minor health scare early in the season. For another, Baylor was clashing a bit with the General Manager of the Rockies, Bob Gebhardt, and Zimmer felt like he was somewhat caught in between the two men, as he was close to both of them and did not want to pick “a side.”

So towards the end of May, 1995, Zimmer informed the owner of the Rockies that he intended to quit the team (and ostensibly, baseball). Rockies’ owner Jerry McMorris offered to give him a special day to honor him, but Zimmer did not want that.

On June 6, 1995, in the middle of the fifth inning in a game against the Cardinals, Zimmer went to the clubhouse, got his stuff together and quit.

Zimmer did not want to make a big fuss out of his departure, but even for him this was odd. After the game was over, team player representative Joe Girardi read a note from Zimmer to the rest of the team, saying goodbye.

Of course, retirement for someone like Zimmer would not last long – he could not stay at home when there was baseball to be played! One of his old friends, Joe Torre, became the new Manager of the New York Yankees in 1996, and Torre asked Zimmer to sign on as his bench coach.

Zimmer agreed, and he went on to enjoy an extended stay as Torre’s bench coach – to much media attention.

In 1999, he even served as a strong insurance policy for Torre, as Zimmer was acting manager for a number of games in 1999 when Torre was recovering from treatment for cancer.

After leaving the Yankees, Zimmer took a job with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, which is where he remains today, working as a “Special assistant” to the now Tampa Bay Rays.

Zimmer has been part of professional baseball for fifty-nine of his eighty-two years – and let’s hope he’s around for even more!

The legend is…

STATUS: True

Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future urban legends columns! My e-mail address is bcronin@legendsrevealed.com