Joseph Paul DiMaggio, b. Martinez, Calif. , Nov. 25, 1914, was professional baseball’s premier center fielder during the late 1930 s and 1940 s.
Playing his entire career (1936-42, 1946-51) for the New York Yankees, DiMaggio was a dangerous batter and one of the most graceful and fleet outfielders ever to play the game — hence his nicknames, Joltin’ Joe and the Yankee Clipper. DiMaggio was the eighth of nine children of a San Francisco fisherman. In 1936 the Yankees purchased him from the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast league, where at age 18 he had compiled a 61-game hitting streak. The center fielder’s rookie season in New York was sensational, and DiMaggio would go on to lead the American League twice in home runs (1937, 1948, batting average (1939-40), slugging average (1937, 1950), and runs batted in (1941, 1948).
He was three times voted the league’s Most Valuable Player (1939, 1941, 1947), and in his 13 seasons he led the Yankees to 10 pennants and 9 World Series titles. His greatest, and as yet un approached, achievement came in 1941, when he hit safely in 56 consecutive games.
DiMaggio finished his career with a. 325 batting average, 2, 214 hits, 361 home runs, and 1, 537 runs batted in. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1955. Ever the soft-spoken gentleman, both on and off the field, DiMaggio endeared himself to the American public. Rick Cunningham
The Essay on Home Run Baseball Game One
'It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in spring, when everything else begins again. And it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings. And then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone.' ; A. Bartlett Giamatti, the former commissioner of Major League Baseball. From the lush, green grass to the smell of an old leather glove, ...
Bibliography:
De Gregorio, George, Joe DiMaggio: An Informal Biography (1981); Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher, Me and DiMaggio (1986); Moore, Jack G. , Joe DiMaggio: Baseball’s Yankee Clipper (1987); Seidel, Michael, Streak: Joe DiMaggio and the Summer of ’41 (1988).
Picture Caption[s]Joe DiMaggio (1914-), a former center fielder for the New York Yankees, is remembered by fans as one of the most graceful athletes ever to play baseball. DiMaggio won the American League’s batting championship twice and was voted its Most Valuable Player in 1939, 1941, and 1947. (The Bettmann Archive).
