TW Hit List - Joe DiMaggio

“Joseph Paul DiMaggio played thirteen seasons in the major leagues and won nine World Championships and three Most Valuable Player awards, but he never sweated on the diamond. Not once. He roamed center field at Yankee Stadium, back when the House that Ruth Built boasted one of the most cavernous outfields in the major leagues, but DiMaggio never had to dive for a soaring fly ball or a soft, sinking line drive. He swatted home runs and loped gracefully around the base paths, but the bat never stung in his hands, the dirt never clogged in his cleats. For thirteen seasons, DiMaggio played frictionless baseball, his perfect play operating outside the laws of physics and random misfortune that torment lesser ballplayers and lesser humans in other fields of endeavor-which is to say, everyone else.” – David Jones

Well, maybe not quite. And although Jones was being facetious, it is clear judging by the effect he had on the game, the fans and some aspects of pop culture, that DiMaggio was a giant on the field, if not off of it. In fact, Williams says he was the best all around player he ever saw and that he simply idolized Joltin’ Joe. On pure hitting talent, I think Ted would have liked to see Joe placed ahead of Hornsby and maybe even Foxx, but the stats were just not there to justify it. He hit a career .325 with 361 home runs and a .977 OPS over thirteen seasons. Remarkably, he stuck out only 369 times, barely above his home run total. He was MVP three times, and incredibly won the World Series in nine of his thirteen seasons with the Yankees. He is likely best known for his 56 game hitting streak in 1941. (Here is a review article on a book written about the streak by the brilliant, but misguided, Stephen Jay Gould. I strongly disagree with the main thrust of the article, but it is an interesting and enjoyable read. Gould also brings up the question of why truly good writers are always drawn to baseball. He can’t answer it. I can’t either, but I suspect the kind of characteristics in a person that make a good writer are similar to the ones that make a good baseball fan. How I’d love to see a good book written that discusses the issue.) So, Joe was a fearful hitter to be sure, but lacked the numbers of Foxx and Hornsby. On the other hand, Joe played as a right-hander at Yankee Stadium. It was not the “House that Ruth Built” for nothing. When DiMaggio played, left field ranged from 402’ to 457’ while, right field was 296’ down the line. It is supposed that many long fly-outs would have been home runs in many other parks. He also lost some time in the armed forces. But I would say that everyone must be compared to their own peers and time and besides, he played year after year on some of the best teams ever, which can have a beneficial effect on the stats. However graceful his playing style may have appeared, results are what count.

But his style was apparently graceful, and he is remembered as one of the greatest ballplayers by many who saw him. And this is why the Yankee Clipper deserves his spot in baseball lore, not to mention the TW Hit List. No sport inspires like baseball, and he has possibly inspired like no other ballplayer. While I cannot stomach Gould’s philosophy, he was a true lifetime baseball fan. He said, “Baseball is like a river, both in the steady pace of its own action ... and in the continuity it establishes with our past through the isolation of individual performance. . . I don't know why grown men care so deeply about something that neither kills, nor starves, nor maims, nor even scratches in our world of woe. I don't know why we care so much, but I'm mighty glad that we do." Perhaps baseball attracts the best writers because good writing requires clear thinking, and no other game helps us think more clearly about the constancy of life punctuated by sudden events, for some joyful and for others sorrowful, than baseball.