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Don Zimmer sign and meet from the National

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gracecollector

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
6,559
215
Lake in the Hills, IL
Well, the highlight of the National for me was meeting Don Zimmer and getting him to sign his 1948 Western Hills (Cincinnati, OH) High School Yearbook. Zim got a kick out of looking through it and seeing several of the photos from his youth. This is from his Junior Year. He was a 3-sport star in highschool. Besides baseball, he was the varsity starting quarterback in football and a guard in basketball. On the baseball team, he and Jim Frey were future MLB players and managers. In the closeup of the Zimmer autograph, Don is right above the autograph, and sitting immediately to his left are his big brother Bill and then Jim Frey.

yearbook1.jpg


yearbook2.jpg


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I also got my picture taken with Zim. I'm holding the yearbook in the photo. It's now a highlight of my Zimmer collection.

bradzim.jpg


Couple of other Zimmer pickups at the National...

1962 Topps Stamp Panels (each player had 2 panels available)

62TOPPSSTAMPPANELS.jpg


1959 Dodgers Team Issue (looks identical to Jay Publishing Issue, but only difference is team version just says "Dodgers," Jay issue says "Brooklyn Dodgers."

58DODGERSTEAMISSUE.jpg


2006 Puerto Rico Card Show Promo

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Thanks for looking!
 

schillingfan

New member
Jul 9, 2010
5,304
0
York, PA
That's awesome Brad! Did you have a little bit of time to chat with him or did they push everyone through as fast as possible? Either way, I'm sure you'll have great memories that will last a lifetime.
 

gracecollector

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
6,559
215
Lake in the Hills, IL
He took a minute or two to look through the yearbook. He said he was "running for his life" in the football picture, and liked seeing the picture of him and Jim Frey together. I pointed to a picture of his wife-to-be in the Junior girls section and asked him how he got such a pretty girl to marry him. He said "Dunno, but it's worked for 50 years, can you believe it?" I told him "I wish Soot (his wife) was there to sign it too," and he said "she charges more" and I replied "I'd pay more for hers" to try and get a laugh out of him. And I complimented him on the pictorial of his home and memorabilia collection in a recent D-Rays "Inside Pitch" magazine spread, he just said "Wasn't that something? They did a great job with that."

Zim's getting up there in years. At the two signings I've been to with him there, his handlers really help him alot and kinda keep the line going. Not sure how much longer we'll have him around, but we'll lose a baseball institution when he goes.

He was doing inscriptions for $10 more, I was thinking of having him sign a baseball "Don Zimmer, I fought Pedro Martinez" but couldn't justify spending more than I already had.

What's wrong with my awesome Mark Grace shirt???
 

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