There has never been a player that combined grace and consistency at such a high level, and there probably will never be.
When experts discuss the greatest center fielders in history, ultimately his name is mentioned in the same breath as Mantle, Mays and Cobb.
Of course, I am talking about Joe DiMaggio.
The “Yankee Clipper” played from 1936 to 1951, missing the 1943, 44 and 45 seasons while he served as a sergeant in the U.S. Air Force. In spite of that lost time, “Joltin Joe” hit 361 career home runs and carried a lifetime .325 average.
All the great ones, especially the players in our Mount Olympus, have the unique quality of raising the level of play in those around them.
DiMaggio was no different.
In the years that Joe was active on the Yankees roster, the team averaged 98 wins per season. During the three seasons without him, the Yankees averaged 87 wins. That alone speaks volumes as to his importance to the team.
During his 13 MLB seasons, the Bombers were in 10 World Series and won nine of them. His accolades are among the greatest in the sport and include:
- Selection as an All-Star in every one of his 13 seasons
- Three MLB MVP awards
- Led the league in hitting twice
- Led the league in home runs twice
- Three times led the league in total bases
- Three times was named World Series MVP
He is a baseball immortal.
The most famous of his campaigns may be 1941. That season the center fielder set a record that stands to this day; and may never be touched. From May 15th until July 17th DiMaggio hit in 56 consecutive games. During that streak he batted .408 with 15 home runs and 55 RBI. Yeah... he was hot.
DiMaggio always carried himself with class and dignity. On the field his smooth, effortless swing and graceful, yet speedy, strides made him the picture perfect baseball player.
Off the field he ran with the “high society” crowd and had high-profile marriages to actresses Dorothy Arnold and Marilyn Monroe. In spite of divorcing the latter after only 274 days of marriage, following her death DiMaggio had a half dozen roses delivered to Monroe’s grave three times a week for 20 years.
From his famous marriages to the Simon and Garfunkel song “Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?” to references in Hemingway’s “Old Man and the Sea” to being the face of “Mr. Coffee”, the Yankees’ great embedded himself in American culture.
Any list of the greatest players in baseball history has the name Joe DiMaggio in it. He was the first (upon his insistence) to be introduced at Yankees’ Old Timers Day as “The Greatest Living Yankee”.
While that may have been considered arrogant, he certainly could provide the career numbers to back it up.
Just a year after his final season, Joe’s number “5” was retired by the Yankees and in 1955 he was inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame.
DiMaggio died in 1999 at the age of 84 and a little more than a month later the team erected a monument to the legend in Yankee Stadium’s famous Monument Park.
He forever stands among the most beloved and iconic figures in Yankees history, and now he takes his place in the New York Yankees’ Mount Olympus.
--Steve Skinner, BYB Guest Writer
Twitter: @oswegos1
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