| | NEW YORK -- Don Zimmer couldn't believe it.
|  | | Don Zimmer was able to hold an icepack to his head and laugh about what had been a scary scene minutes earlier. |
"One hundred ten thousand ears in this ballpark, and he's got
to hit my ear," Zimmer said with a laugh after Chuck Knoblauch's fifth-inning foul ball gave him cuts on the left jaw and ear
Tuesday night during New York's 8-0 win over Texas in the AL
playoffs.
The Yankees' bench coach was assisted out of the dugout. Zimmer, 68, returned with an icepack on his jaw while the Yankees were
still batting, and joked with Knoblauch.
"This head's been hit so many times, I think as long as I get hit in the head, it can't hurt me," Zimmer said.
Zimmer twice had seasons ended by beanings, in 1953 at St. Paul
and 1956 with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Knoblauch lined a 2-1 pitch into the first-base dugout, and it
struck Zimmer, who usually sits on the bench next to manager Joe
Torre.
"When I heard that ugly sound, I'm saying to myself, 'Why
didn't I just reach my hand instead of just getting out of the
way?"' Torre said. "It was bothering me. Bernie (Williams) saw I
was dazed a little. He came up to me and said, 'Are you with us,
are you OK?
"I said, 'Yeah, I'm OK.' It was like he lit a fire."
Zimmer tried to joke about the big hands of his boss and friend.
"With the ham hocks you have, how come you let it hit me?" he
recalled telling Torre.
The game was stopped for several minutes and, after Zimmer was
helped off the floor, he was assisted back to the clubhouse by
pitcher Andy Pettitte and assistant trainer Steve Donohue. Knoblauch crouched in the batter's box with a concerned look.
"I saw the ball, but when it hit me, I didn't know what hit
me," Zimmer said. "Luckily, it didn't hit me full force. I turned
my head and it must have hit me a glancing blow."
Zimmer managed the Yankees to a 21-15 record this year while
Torre recovered from prostate cancer surgery. Zimmer talked of
retirement during that time, hobbled by a sore knee.
He is in his 51st season in professional baseball. Zimmer, who
coached for the Yankees in 1983 and 1986, rejoined the club as the
bench coach in 1996, shortly after Torre was hired.
As a player, Zimmer twice had seasons ended by beanings, in 1953 at St. Paul
and 1956 with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
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