Retro uniforms part of salute to Zimmer

The Dodgers and Tampa Bay Devil Rays will salute Don Zimmer’s 59 years in professional baseball tonight with the Dodgers donning uniforms from the mid-1950s, when Zimmer made his big league debut with Brooklyn.

Among those joining in the tribute are Hall of Fame member Duke Snider and former Dodgers pitchers Johnny Podres and Carl Erskine, teammates of Zimmer on the Dodgers’ first World Series winner in 1955.

“For them to take time to come down here for this, it makes you feel pretty good,” said Zimmer, who had breakfast with Snider and Podres on Friday. “They’re not both in the greatest of health. And to think that they would fly down here for this, it makes you feel pretty good that the guys think that much of you.”

The Dodgers will ditch their light double-knits for gray flannels modeled after the 1955 Brooklyn road uniforms and the Devil Rays will wear replicas of the St. Petersburg Saints’ minor league uniforms of the same period. The flannel got a less-than-favorable review from Dodgers pitcher Randy Wolf, tonight’s starter.

“It’s a weird material,” Wolf said. “If feels like you’re wearing a paper towel. Feel is a very important thing. But it’s the same for everyone.”

Zimmer said Wolf should consider himself lucky he doesn’t have to wear flannel every day -- especially outside climate-controlled Tropicana Field.

“Go in St. Louis in July,” he said. “It is so hot those uniforms must have weighed 10 pounds from the sweat. It was something. They were hot.”

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Also on hand tonight will be Roger Kahn, author of the seminal baseball book “The Boys of Summer” about Zimmer’s Dodgers. Kahn says he remembers asking to meet former Dodgers shortstop Pee Wee Reese when the book, a then-and-now look at those Dodgers in the 1950s and the same players more than a decade later, was in the works.

Reese may have been a Hall of Fame player, but he would have had trouble making ends meet as a literary agent, Kahn joked.

“Pee Wee said, ‘You’re wasting your time because nobody will want a book about a bunch of old ballplayers,’ ” Kahn said.

The author said the book has sold more than 3 1/2 million copies since its debut 35 years ago.

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The Dodgers will oppose a familiar face Sunday when right-hander Edwin Jackson starts for Tampa Bay. Jackson, 23, was one of the Dodgers’ top pitching prospects before he was sent to Florida as part of a five-player deal in January 2006.

“It seems like everyone that plays their former team, there’s always that little extra focus,” said Jackson, who is winless in eight decisions with the Devil Rays. “In my case, it’s going to be fun facing a lot of guys I played with.”

Jackson says he has kept in touch with several former teammates, including Russell Martin, Matt Kemp and James Loney. But he’s not bitter about the trade.

“The past is the past,” said Jackson, making his first start against the Dodgers. “I had fun in L.A. I have a lot of respect for the guys over there. You learn from everything you’ve taken from organization to organization and try to put it all together.

“I understand that the game is a business. So there’s no hard feelings.”

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Right-hander Chin-hui Tsao, on the disabled list since May 23 because of a shoulder strain, threw 45 pain-free pitches in the bullpen. Manager Grady Little said Tsao would throw Sunday or Monday and if that session goes well he could be sent on a minor league rehabilitation assignment early next week.... With the Baltimore Orioles putting Miguel Tejada on the disabled list, Dodgers center fielder Juan Pierre has the longest streak of consecutive games played in the majors. Pierre’s start Friday marked his 345th game in a row.... With a first-inning steal of second, Martin tied John Roseboro’s Los Angeles Dodgers record for stolen bases by a catcher with 12. The franchise record of 18 was set by Con Daily of the Brooklyn Grooms in 1892.

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kevin.baxter@latimes.com