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 Zimmer couldn't win, can Torre?
Posted: Tuesday May 18, 1999 05:13 PM
If, as expected, the Yankees leave this temporary slump thing in the dust and go on to another World Series crown, the headlines would have already been prepared: The New York Times: Ever the Strategist, Torre Revitalizes Yankees The Daily News: JOE JOLTS BOMBERS! The New York Post: TODD BRIDGES SAYZ: 'DANA WAS AN ALIEN' (subhead: TELL ME A TORRE!) Sport has a way of writing its own scripts -- predictable odes to fallen heroes who, despite mounds of adversity, crush the odds to return on a white horse. Joe Torre's fable is as good as dry ink: Cancer had him down, but Joltin' Joe wouldn't give up. "I'm gonna beat this thing," he said one March afternoon. And he did ... by out-strategizing the Astros in five games! Tuesday night, against the Red Sox, Torre will return to the dugout. The Yankees will go on a 10-, 12-, 15-game winning streak. The birds will chirp, the violinists will string, Louie Anderson will eat and Don Zimmer -- poor Don Zimmer -- will have been 100% forgotten. New York has been an extremely mediocre club under Zimmer. The pitching has been inconsistent. The big boppers haven't big-bopped. Roger Clemens and his Cy Young trophies collect dust by the day. Zimmer isn't exactly scapegoat No. 1, but, should dust turn back into gold, he will be. The other day, when he wouldn't allow a players-only team meeting, there were whispers: What's this guy thinking? Is he losing it? Some wonder, albeit silently, whether batting coach Chris Chambliss or third-base coach Willie Randolph -- more contemporary-styled sorts -- would have been wiser choices to sit in for Torre. Zimmer is a tough cookie. His head looks like a faulty weather balloon. His cheeks contain one too many acorns. Because of a bum knee, he waddles through the Yankees clubhouse, balancing himself with a bat. The other day, while speaking of his team's troubles, the ex-Boston skipper recalled worse times, when his 1978 Red Sox, owners of a 14-game July lead, choked to the mighty Yanks. "I hate that word," Zimmer said. Mighty? "Choked -- I know the media like to use it, but how can a team that won 99 games choke? It doesn't make sense." There were 10, 15 writers gathered around Zimmer. It was a warm New York Saturday. He was in story mode. "When I came to the Yankees as a coach in '83, I needed to find a place to live," he said, leaning back on the bench. "Strange -- I ended up renting Bucky Dent's place in New Jersey." Dent, of course, hit the one-game-playoff-winning home run to kill the Sox in 1978. "So I walk in, and the first thing I see is this giant picture of Bucky Dent, in the pose." Zimmer holds his hands like he's swinging a bat, tilts his head upwards. "Then I walk in the bathroom and what do I see." Zimmer does the Dent pose. "Then I go in the bedroom -- same thing." Well, there's this big white rug as you walk in the house. I called Bucky and said, "Bucky, no offense, but I'm gonna take all them pictures down and spit tobacco juice on your white shag rug." Despite the occasional battles with Boss George (ol' Don still fumes over the order to start Hideki Irabu ), Zimmer has maintained his sense of humor and, more importantly, his pride. When Torre returns, Zimmer will leave the club to have knee surgery. He will gently waddle off into the sunset, obscured by the glow of TORRE TRIUMPHS IN RETURN! Few will speak of the man who was placed in an impossible situation -- the can't-wins of can't-wins. But sometimes headlines aren't the most important thing. Sometimes dignity is. Sports Illustrated staff writer Jeff Pearlman offers his unique view on baseball every week.
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