Posted on 11/25/2014 9:41:18 PM PST by PROCON
Joe DiMaggio would have turned 100 on Tuesday, so it seems appropriate to remember him as I do — as the finest baseball player I ever saw play our delicate little game.
Bobby Doerr, the Hall of Fame Red Sox second baseman, once told me his teammate Ted Williams was the best hitter of their time but that Joe was the best all-around player.
I grew up rooting for the Yankees as a kid in New Haven and, much later, when I got to know Joe well, I never failed to feel as if I were in the presence of a deity. Joe always acted as if he knew he was special.
I also got to know Dom DiMaggio, the youngest of the family and, in his own right, a superb center fielder for the Red Sox. The two brothers had drifted apart over the years, but as Joe lay dying, Dommy was loyal, and he and Joe shared some closing times.
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Tony Gwynn. Best hitter of our generation. .338 average and did in NL, so no DH. Gold Gloves early in his career and was respectable defensively. Stuck with one team when he could have made $ in places like New York, LA. Solid, modest player. Gets overlooked because he played for a crappy team.
Right answer, wrong spelling.
Mayes = Mays
PS: Joe D. couldn’t be the greatest. He came from
evil California, specifically San Francisco!
My childhood hero was Kirby Puckett of the Twins. Not just because he was an incredible player and the best pure hitter in the game at the time but also for the unbridled enthusiasm that he had when he was playing. You could tell he LOVED what he was doing.
He kept the autographed ball on his mantle until the day he died......my sister promptly swiped it before he was cold.
Story about that song;
http://pagesix.com/2014/03/07/paul-simon-clears-mystery-behind-joe-dimaggio-lyric/
He also charted many of Ruth's other long clouts in other ball parks that season. Many pitchers refused to pitch Ruth anything but bad, usually far outside pitches. Ruth, if he didn't want to walk every time, was forced to swing at many "bad" pitches. Since the bad pitches were usually outside, Ruth hit many long shots to center and left center field. Some clouts were homers or extra base hits, but many were just incredibly long outs.
Dickinson also investigated long shots by other players including Mantle and concluded that their longest shots still didn't match the distances of Ruth's clouts. He claims nobody has yet hit baseballs as far as Ruth hit them. And yes, he investigated Mantle's famous shot off the facade at Yankee Stadium and concluded that it wouldn't have gone as far as many people claimed.
Dickinson's final conclusion was that if Ruth had played that season in a ball park with the dimensions of modern ball parks, he would have hit over 100 home runs.
Willie Mays was my favorite player when I was growing up. Still have my baseball card collection from the 60’s and early 70’s.
Rose didn’t make mistakes. He knowingly broke the rules of the game. That’s what crooked politicians always say after the fact.
Let’s play two was Ernie Banks, not Mays.
I concur.
Clemente had the best outfield arm I ever saw.
My bad.
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