(July 1999)
\nBy Marty Appel<\/p>\n
Since we baseball fans like to live by the numbers, how about this one \u2013 Joe DiMaggio attended 47 of the 48 Old Timers Days held by the Yankees after his retirement, missing only in 1987 when he was having a pacemaker installed.<\/p>\n
Big deal about the 56 game hitting streak. Let\u2019s see someone break that one!<\/p>\n
Think about it \u2013 what was so special to him about the annual old timers day? On most weekends, he could pick up a quick $100,000 if he wanted to do a card show instead. No, long after old timers day guests had ceased to be his old teammates like Dickey and Gomez and Ruffing \u2013 into a time when the guest list included Jay Johnstone and Brian Doyle \u2013 Joe couldn\u2019t live without them. He would travel cross country for the few seconds of an introduction, wave both arms with elbows bent in what became known as the \u201cDiMaggio wave\u201d, and then disappear. All of that for a few seconds of cheers.<\/p>\n
\u201cJoe, you never heard such cheering,\u201d said Marilyn Monroe after visiting American troops in South Korea during their honeymoon.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes I have,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n
And it obviously meant a lot to him.<\/p>\n
For all of the style and grace that Joe brought to the playing field, he carried it on into his life as Joe the Celebrity, the American icon, which began with his retirement after the 1951 season. He knew when it was time to no longer play the field or swing a bat at an old timers game. He knew when it was time to no longer wear a uniform. How did he know? With the same instinct that he had as a ballplayer. He had impeccable timing.<\/p>\n
I was present at a \u201cCracker Jack Old Timers Game\u201d in Washington in the \u201880s when he was changing into his uniform shirt. Suddenly, a photographer appeared and snapped a picture of the bare-chested Joe, still in fine shape, but no longer the muscular athlete of his youth. Joe angrily demanded that the photographer stop at once \u2013 and never again changed into a uniform shirt in the presence of others. Appearance was always important to the Yankee Clipper.<\/p>\n
When we saw the replay of Jim Edmonds 1997 brilliant, magical catch for the Angels, over and over, one of the greatest catches of all time, I wondered if Joe would ever have made such an attempt on a ball. It would not be in character to see him sliding in the outfield, dirtying his uniform.<\/p>\n
But as Phil Rizzuto pointed out, \u201cof course he wouldn\u2019t. No one had a better instinct for the game than Joe did! He wouldn\u2019t have had to slide!\u201d<\/p>\n
Yogi Berra was talking about Joe during the opening of his new museum in New Jersey recently. \u201cHe was a loner,\u201d said Yogi. \u201cHe would play cards with us on the train, but when we got to where we were going, he would disappear. He wasn\u2019t a guy who had dinner with his teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mysterious side of DiMaggio bewildered his followers over the years. No friend could get too close. No one would dare bring up the name Marilyn. He could be cold to his friends, could discharge them even for some small fault.<\/p>\n
But there was something so magnetic about him, that people would do almost anything to be able to say, \u201che knows who I am! Joe DiMaggio knows my name!\u201d<\/p>\n
I have my special numbers for Joe. 73, for instance. While everyone knows about the 56 game hitting streak, a lot of people don\u2019t know that after he was stopped that summer night in Cleveland back in \u201941, he went on to hit safely in 17 more, making it 73 out of 74. Chew that one over! And the night he was stopped, he had two shots to third that could certainly have been hits if not for great plays by Ken Keltner.<\/p>\n
How about 361\/ 369. Joe hit 361 home runs in his 13-year career \u2013 it doesn\u2019t seem like a lot today, but he gave away three seasons to World War II which would certainly have put him over 400, maybe around 450, and he did this battling the deep dimensions of \u201cDeath Valley,\u201d in left-centerfield of Yankee Stadium.<\/p>\n
Oh, and the 369? He had 369 career strikeouts to go with his 361 homers. Chew that one over too. He had a long stride and a big swing, and he still averaged 28 strikeouts a season – about one a week. The year he served as batting coach for the Oakland A\u2019s, his prot\u00e9g\u00e9, rookie Reggie Jackson, whiffed 171 times. What Joe must have thought!<\/p>\n
Joe never really seemed to find a place for himself after his baseball career. It took a long time for the collectors market to take hold, and of course when it did, he was the emperor of it all. But it took more than a quarter of a century for that industry to blossom.<\/p>\n
As recently as 1988, at the National in Atlantic City, DiMaggio autographs could be obtained in person for $15. Only in the \u201890s did the price begin to soar, with signed baseball\u2019s today selling at up to $300, and the 1,941 bats he sold on QVC in 1993 moving in the $2500 – $3000 range.<\/p>\n
His appearances were laden with rules. He wouldn\u2019t sign original art, books, round objects, bats, uniforms, Marilyn items, advertising pieces, and on and on. For this, he was able to command up to $100,000 for an appearance, which show promoters seemed happy to pay.<\/p>\n
His marriage to Marilyn Monroe came after his baseball career, although it lasted only nine months. Still, it propelled him far beyond the sports pages in the consciousness of America. What a person he must have been to have wooed and won America\u2019s most glamorous movie idol!<\/p>\n
He tried his hand, awkwardly, at pre-game shows on WPIX in New York, finding little comfort doing so. It lasted a season, before the format switched to an instructional format for children. Also a year.<\/p>\n
In the \u201870s, he became a polished commercial pitchman, selling Mr. Coffee machines nationally, and plugging the Bowery Savings Bank in New York. It brought him back to public notice, and introduced him to a new generation of fans.<\/p>\n
He shunned offers to do a book, and scorned the unauthorized versions that dared mention Marilyn. When he finally agreed to a book project, it was a 2-volume set of newspaper clippings from his scrapbooks, a product that flopped in the bookstores, lacking as it did, much insight into the man. And, no Marilyn.<\/p>\n
He was immortalized in literature by Ernest Hemingway in The Old Man and the Sea, and in song by Simon & Garfunkel in Mrs. Robinson, but as his fans grew older, the cheers were louder for Mickey Mantle. When Mantle was introduced after DiMaggio at a Yankee old timers day in 1970, Joe said he wouldn\u2019t return again. But of course, he did, year after year.<\/p>\n
For the A\u2019s first year in Oakland, 1968, Joe agreed to work for Charlie Finley as a Vice President and batting coach, giving him a job 25 minutes from his home, and moving him into the modern pension plan. He served on the Baltimore Orioles\u2019 Board of Directors from 1982-89 for his friend, Edward Bennett Williams, the team\u2019s owner.<\/p>\n
A frequent White House guest, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 by Gerald Ford, and then in 1988, turned the tables and got Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev to autograph a baseball for him.<\/p>\n
Joe remained a San Francisco resident for most of his life, moving to a golf course home south of Miami at around the time that the Joe DiMaggio Children\u2019s Hospital opened in Hollywood, Fl. His home on Beach Street in San Francisco suffered earthquake damage during the 1989 World Series, hastening his move.<\/p>\n
Of all of his honors, he seemed to derive the most pleasure from being voted the games\u2019 Greatest Living Player in a 1969 poll of fans, which marked the centennial of professional baseball. The three words became his entrance cue whenever he made a public appearance.<\/p>\n
Although he spent nearly a half-century as a wondering American hero, it was those 13 seasons of baseball that put him into history books, linked in the Yankee parade of Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio and Mantle. He was the last survivor. To many who saw him play, there would never be another DiMaggio, one who played the game at such a high level, with such skills in all areas. To the many who encountered the post-baseball Joe, he was an enigma, a man who needed applause, but who needed it from a distance.<\/p>\n
In the end, few ever got close enough to see the contradictions. To those, he will always be the ultimate America sports hero. Those who can say they saw him play are in their late 50s and older. Most of the nation simply knows the Yankee Clipper from newsreel footage and legend. And there, he was at his best.<\/p>\n
Joe DiMaggio\u2019s post-baseball career<\/p>\n
1951 \u2013 Tours Japan with Major League All-Star team following \u201951 World Series<\/p>\n
1952 \u2013 Yankees retire his uniform #5, it is sent to Cooperstown<\/p>\n
1952 \u2013 Does pre and post game shows for Yankees on WPIX-TV, New York<\/p>\n
1952 \u2013 Attends first Yankee Old Timers Day<\/p>\n
1952 \u2013 Mentioned in Hemingway\u2019s \u201cOld Man and the Sea\u201d<\/p>\n
1953 \u2013 Does an instructional program on WPIX-TV<\/p>\n
1954 \u2013 Marries and divorces Marilyn Monroe<\/p>\n
1955 \u2013 Elected to Hall of Fame in third year of eligibility<\/p>\n
1961 \u2013 Joins Yankees as spring training instructor (through 1967)<\/p>\n
1962 \u2013 Supervises funeral of Marilyn Monroe<\/p>\n
1966 \u2013 Portrayed as lonely nomad by author Gay Talese in Esquire Magazine<\/p>\n
1968 \u2013 Named Vice President and batting coach of Oakland A\u2019s<\/p>\n
1968 \u2013 Simon & Garfunkel immortalize him in \u201cMrs. Robinson\u201d<\/p>\n
1969 \u2013 Retires as coach, finishes 2-year contract with A\u2019s as VP<\/p>\n
1969 \u2013 Visits troops in South Vietnam on USO tour<\/p>\n
1969 \u2013 Receives outfield plaque in Yankee Stadium on Mickey Mantle Day<\/p>\n
1969 \u2013 Voted baseball\u2019s Greatest Living Player in centennial poll of fans<\/p>\n
1970 \u2013 Turns down an offer he calls \u201cembarrassing\u201d to join Commissioner\u2019s staff<\/p>\n
1972 \u2013 Becomes spokesman for Bowery Saving Bank in New York<\/p>\n
1972 \u2013 Meets with Yankee president Mike Burke about becoming a partner when CBS\u00a0sells the team, but doesn\u2019t have a second meeting.<\/p>\n
1973 \u2013 Becomes spokesman for Mr. Coffee in national advertising campaign<\/p>\n
1977 \u2013 Receives Presidential Medal of Freedom from Gerald Ford<\/p>\n
1982 \u2013 Joins Board of Directors, Baltimore Orioles (through 1989)<\/p>\n
1982 \u2013 Ends practice of sending roses to Marilyn Monroe grave; they are always stolen<\/p>\n
1986 \u2013 DiMaggio\u2019s Restaurant on Fisherman\u2019s Wharf closes after 50 years<\/p>\n
1986 \u2013 DiMaggio brothers make final appearance together in Fenway Park in May<\/p>\n
1986 \u2013 Brother Vince DiMaggio dies in October<\/p>\n
1987 \u2013 Pacemaker installed; misses first Yankee Old Timers Day in 36 years<\/p>\n
1988 \u2013 Gets ball signed by Reagan and Gorbachev during White House dinner<\/p>\n
1989 \u2013 Home suffers earthquake damage during 1989 World Series<\/p>\n
1991 \u2013 Celebrates 50th anniversary of 56 game batting streak<\/p>\n
1992 \u2013 Joe DiMaggio Children\u2019s Hospital dedicated in Hollywood, Fl.<\/p>\n
1993 \u2013 Throws out first ball in Florida Marlins inaugural game<\/p>\n
1993 \u2013 Appears on QVC selling 1,941 signed and numbered bats<\/p>\n
1995 \u2013 Represents ex-teammate Lou Gehrig the night Cal Ripken breaks record<\/p>\n
1998 \u2013 Attends 47th Yankee Old Timers Day in 48 years since his retirement<\/p>\n
1998 \u2013 Special ball with #5 used in final day of season, \u201cJoe DiMaggio Day\u201d, at Yankee Stadium<\/p>\n
1998 \u2013 Admitted to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Fl, Oct. 12; has lung cancer surgery Oct. 14.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Joe DiMaggio Farewell (July 1999) By Marty Appel Since we baseball fans like to live by the numbers, how about this one \u2013 Joe DiMaggio attended 47 of the 48 Old Timers Days held by the Yankees after his retirement,… Continue Reading