The Reading of the Letter

I am fortunate to play Rotisserie baseball in one of the oldest continuously run Leagues in the United States - the Don Zimmer League.  Our championship trophy, which I've never won (team name: Hawaii Five-O's), is even called The Gerbil in Zimmer's honor.

We recently held our annual auction.  Perhaps the finest tradition in the Zimmer League is "The Reading of the Letter," by Thurman's Roysox co-owner Guerry Eaton.

The story goes, back in 1979, Mr. Eaton and a friend wrote a letter to then-Red Sox skipper Zimmer about the team's performance (or lack thereof).  Zimmer wrote back to them, a sort of stream-of-consciousness rant.  But still, he wrote back (this was before email or Twitter, kids).

Now each year, the Zimmer League auction begins with "The Reading of the Letter"