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Joe DiMaggio the "Yankee Clipper" 
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Simon & Garfunkel at Yankee Stadium, circa 1968 
Graphic provided by Corbis.com |
Joe DiMaggio Fact Sheet
• Nicknames: Yankee Clipper, Joltin' Joe
• Date of birth: November 25, 1914, in Martinez, California.
• Date of death: March 8, 1999, at the age of 84, in Hollywood, Florida.
• Height: 6'2"
• Weight: 193 lbs.
• Threw and batted righthanded.
• Brothers: Brother of Dom and Vince DiMaggio, former major league outfielders.
• Achievements:
• Holds major league record for longest consecutive-game hitting streak, season, (56 games), 1941.
• Shares major league record for most home runs, inning, (2), June 24, 1936, fifth inning.
• Shared modern major league record for most triples, game, (3), August 27, 1938, first game.
• Led American League outfielders in double plays, 1941 (tie).
• Named Most Valuable Player, American League, 1939, 1941 and 1947.
• Named by The Sporting News as the Major League Player of the Year, 1939.
• Executive vice president/coach, Oakland Athletics, 1968 through 1969.
• Named to Hall of Fame, 1955.
Statistics from The Sporting News Vault - Remembering Joe DiMaggio
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Joe DiMaggio dies at 84 [news excerpt]
by Marv Schneider
© The Associated Press - March 8, 1999
Joe DiMaggio, the elegant Yankee Clipper whose 56-game hitting streak endures as one of the most remarkable records in baseball or any sport, died today at his home in Hollywood, Fla. He was 84.
DiMaggio, who underwent lung cancer surgery in October and battled a series of complications for weeks afterward, died shortly after midnight, said Morris Engelberg, his longtime friend and attorney.
At his bedside were his brother, Dominick, a former major league outfielder; two grandchildren; Engelberg; and Joe Nacchio, his friend of 59 years.
DiMaggio's body will be flown to Northern California for burial in his hometown of San Francisco, Engelberg said.
"DiMaggio, the consummate gentleman on and off the field, fought his illness as hard as he played the game of baseball and with the same dignity, style and grace with which he lived his life," said Engelberg, DiMaggio's next-door neighbor.
When DiMaggio left the hospital Jan. 19, he was invited by New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner to throw out the ceremonial first ball at the Yankees' home opener April 9. After DiMaggio came home from the hospital, a sign was placed on his bed saying "April 9 Yankee Stadium or Bust."
Steinbrenner said today he visited a weak but alert DiMaggio five days ago to remind him of the invitation.
"He just smiled," Steinbrenner said.
Baseball commissioner Bud Selig called DiMaggio "the personification of grace, class and dignity on the baseball diamond."
"As an immigrant's son, he represented the hopes and ideals of our great country," Selig said.
The New York Yankees' center fielder roamed the basepaths for 13 years through 1951, missing three seasons to serve in World War II. During that time he played for 10 pennant winners and nine World Series champions, batted .325 and hit 361 home runs.
But more than anything it was The Streak, during the magical summer of '41, that riveted a country fresh from the Depression and elevated him from baseball star to national celebrity.
He ascended even higher atop the rank of popular culture in 1954 when he wed Marilyn Monroe, a storybook marriage that failed all too quickly and left him brokenhearted. For years after she died in 1962, DiMaggio sent roses for her grave but refused to talk about her.
His swanky swing and classy countenance inspired wistful lines in literature and song, including Paul Simon's lament to lost heroes in "Mrs. Robinson" from the movie "The Graduate":
"Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?
A nation turns its lonely eyes to you. . .
What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson?
Joltin' Joe has left and gone away."
Indeed, but his legend stands -- shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and very few others who could measure up to them on the sports scene this century.
The remainder of the article can be read at
http://www.bergen.com/yankees/joed08199903081.htm
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Mayor Giuliani's Statement on Joe DiMaggio
He was the personification of Yankee pride. He led his team to greatness, World Series after World Series. He set records, which may never be broken. And he was always a man of dignity and class. He was also a good friend to New York City.
All of us will miss him at Yankee Stadium. We were all uplifted for having known him.
I am comforted, as are all New Yorkers, that we informed him before he died that the West Side Highway will be renamed the Joe DiMaggio Highway. As long as baseball is played, Joe DiMaggio will exemplify the very best."
--Released on Monday, March 8, 1999
Official issue of Mayor Giuliani's statement at http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us
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Simon confronts DiMaggio
© The Associated Press - March 9, 1999
NEW YORK (AP) -- Paul Simon didn't mean any disrespect to Joe DiMaggio.
Simon, who wrote the song that immortalized the Yankee Clipper for a new generation, said in an op-ed page essay in today's New York Times that he explained his "Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?" lyric to the baseball star in a chance meeting at a restaurant.
"A few years after 'Mrs. Robinson' rose to No. 1 on the pop charts, I found myself dining at an Italian restaurant where DiMaggio was seated with a party of friends," Simon wrote.
"I'd heard a rumor that he was upset with the song and had considered a lawsuit, so it was with some trepidation that I walked over and introduced myself as its composer. I needn't have worried: He was perfectly cordial and invited me to sit down, whereupon we immediately fell into conversation about the only subject we had in common.
"What I don't understand," DiMaggio told Simon, "is why you ask where I've gone. I just did a Mr. Coffee commercial, I'm a spokesman for the Bowery Savings Bank and I haven't gone anywhere."
Simon responded: "I said that I didn't mean the lines literally, that I thought of him as an American hero and that genuine heroes were in short supply. He accepted the explanation and thanked me. We shook hands and said good night."
AP-NY-03-09-99 0848EST
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Joe DiMaggio in Action
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For his career, DiMaggio batted .325 and hit 361 home runs with 1,537 runs batted in. His best season average came in 1939, when he hit .381, and his best power year was 1937, when he hit 46 home runs with 167 RBIs. He was also a standout in center field, where he accumulated 153 assists and a .978 fielding percentage. In the World Series, DiMaggio was a lifetime .271 hitter, smacking eight home runs and driving in 30 runs in 51 games. |
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"Lighting up the dugout with a smile before the 1949 All-Star Game: The very embodiment of how America liked to think of itself, proud, straight and true.", Life Magazine Online (Life: Joe DiMaggio, 1914-1999 Pictorial) |
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In 1941, DiMaggio set and still holds the record of 56 consecutive games in one season with at least one hit. He tied the old mark of 44, held by Wee Willie Keller, on July 1, with a single in the fourth inning against the Red Sox. The streak lasted from May 15 to July 16, with DiMaggio batting .408 and driving in 55 runs in 223 at-bats. The closest anyone has come to breaking the record was Pete Rose, who once hit safely in 44 consecutive games. |
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