Zimmer was the toughest and also the fastest because he had a great arm. This all started way back in 1949 when I was with the Waco Pirates in Waco Texas and one Bill Pierro, who was from Brooklyn, popped off and said how hard he could throw.
I listened for a while and then said I could catch your fastball barehanded. I said go down to the bullpen and warm up. He said he did not need to do that because I would not be able to catch him. I said, let's draw a line 60 feet six inches and I will sand at the end of the lime and you throw as fast as you can. So we did this and he wound up and threw three [pitches] which I caught. He then said, I didn't warm up. I then told him to go warm up and when he is ready to come back and we could do it again. He came back and threw five more, which I caught, and he didn't know what to say. I did this to deflate his ego and I had done this throughout my career.
When I was a kid my mom and dad could not afford to buy me a glove, so I played fast pitch softball without a glove. I played shortstop and shots came to me quite often so I just got used to doing this. I always said a glove was a hindrance to me. I always stressed whenever I was going to catch, [for the other player] to hold the ball across the seams with my fingers close together and to throw as had as they can and I would catch it. [Note: this decreases the movement on the ball.]
A lot of players wanted to do it. You heard the story about Willie Mays, I'm sure. I remember when I was playing with Milwaukee, playing left field with Hank Aaron in center. Between innings we would be warming up and when he threw me the ball, I would catch it barehanded. I would then move closer to him after each throw, and he would throw harder each time. After the third time, he threw it over my head and into the stands. I thought he was going to kill me, but it was all in fun.
No, I never tried out as catcher. I didn't think the coaches and managers ever saw me doing it, although when I played first base, I caught a lot of [???] thrown barehanded and saved some infielders from getting [hit].
