Vin Scully tells a Don Zimmer story

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Baseball lost a true character on Wednesday with the passing of Don Zimmer, who played for the Dodgers in both Brooklyn and Los Angeles and managed the Padres, Rangers, Red Sox and Cubs. Naturally, Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully had a great Zimmer story to share, and he did during Wednesday night's broadcast.


"One quick story involving me. One year I actually wore a Dodger uniform and sat quietly in the Dodger dugout. They were playing the Chicago Cubs, and Zimmer was the Cubs manager," Scully said. "I had asked for permission to do it, and didn't think anyone except some of the Dodgers players knew I was even in the dugout because I crept in right after the anthem.

"I sat there with my cap pulled down over my brow, arms folded at my chest, and I wasn't going to make a move. At the end of half an inning the late John Vuckovich, who was the first base coach for the Cubs, as he ran by the dugout he hollered, 'Vinny,' and he threw the ball to me.

"I caught the ball and on the ball it said, 'If a fight breaks out, I want you' and it was signed 'Zimmer.' I looked over and the Cubs were just falling down on the bench in laughter, some secret that Scully was in the dugout.

"But he was just wonderful. It was an honor, a pleasure, and a huge grace to have known Don Zimmer, believe me."

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