Joltin' Joe DiMaggio

by Richard Gilliam (Editor), George Plimpton (Introduction)

Whenever Joe DiMaggio appeared at Yankee Stadium after retirement, he was always introduced as "the greatest living ballplayer." In the career-spanning Joltin' Joe DiMaggio, Richard Gilliam puts together the inspiring story of how he achieved that distinction when baseball was truly the national pastime and how he stayed in American hearts long after his departure from the game.
DiMaggio's legendary status is more than his unbeatable record of a 56-game hitting streak in 1941 and his gliding greatness in the outfield as "The Yankee Clipper." With his supple wide-legged swing, DiMaggio batted in more runs per game than Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and Hank Aaron - the third highest R.B.I. this century - and he struck out fewer times than any other power hitter with his home-run record. "Joe was the pride of baseball," said Cardinal outfielder Stan Musial, and rival Ted Williams admitted, "He could do it all." Joseph Paul DiMaggio possessed a dignity on and off field that carried him through not only thirteen seasons with the Yankees - and ten World Series - but also his famous marriage with Marilyn Monroe, his success as a pitchman, and appearances in works by Ernest Hemingway and Paul Simon.
Joltin' Joe DiMaggio combines the best writing from newspapers, magazines, and books - including Esquire, The Sporting News, the Saturday Evening Post, Sports Illustrated, and many others - with fascinating and eye-opening interviews, featuring new and rare ones with athletes who played with and against the great Joe D.

Genres: Baseball

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio Book Review

There is a story behind this book. I purchased this book after a great search. Like the lyrics from the famous Simon and Garfunkel “Mrs. Robinson”, “Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?” My story started in January of this year. When I realized that McFarlane Toys was releasing a Joe DiMaggio figure, I knew I wanted one. The release date was set at February 2007! I waited 2 weeks into the month and then started to visit Toys R US regularly. I wish I had kept track of all the visits I made. They were numerous to put it mildly. It went from being interested in finding him to hunting for him like every sports fan yearns for Super Bowl tickets! Joe did not come out in the month of February. March was much kinder to me. I finally out of repetition went to the store and the one time I was not expecting it at all…there he was!

I took a lot away from the search for the DiMaggio figure. I sat reading up on his bio on the PC, I discovered he was from the San Francisco Bay area (where I am headed for my honeymoon) and I learned about why he was so revered. When I finally got the figure, I wanted more then the figure. I wanted knowledge on the man who passed away in 1999 and was in numerous songs, married one of the most famous actresses of all time and to get more details about what is commonly referred to as ‘The Streak’. I purchased the book “Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio”. The book is a collection of different writers and experiences. I felt it was the perfect way to dive into one of the most mysterious and yet famous players in baseball history. I was pleasantly surprised and loved the book! I would recommend it for people who want to know about the Yankee Clipper (as he was sometimes called).

If you’re a Yankee fan (I know there are many who are not), or a baseball fan (I know that football is #1, but baseball is still holding its own), or a fan of history, its worth reading. It will go quickly, and the best part is if you don’t like one of the writers, you can skip that section and the book will still be fulfilling. Great read!

[Spiros · Rating 2 out of 5]

Growing up in Fairfax in the early '70s, I lived a few very long and winding blocks uphill from our town's resident Hall-of-Famer, Vernon "Lefty" Gomez (this is where the phrase 'known to his teammates as "Goofy"' is usually uttered). Lefty would inaugurate the Little League season, and the field out along Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, out by White's Hill, had been named in his honor. On weekends us kids would hang out in downtown Fairfax, at some point sitting with Slurpees in front of the 7-11 where, on occasion, we would see a tall, gray-haired, dapper man, known to us as "Mr. Coffee", using the pay phone: in those pre-cellphone days, Joe calling his old roommate Lefty, from a quarter mile away from Lefty's house, to let him know that he was on his way.
On October 17, 1989, a 7.1 magnitude quake delayed Game 3 of the World Series for ten days. After climbing Telegraph and Russian Hills to view the damage to the Bay Bridge and the Marina fire, I walked home across the darkened City to Church Street, where I foolishly picked my bedroom off the floor, and drank the only liquor I had to hand, 3/4 bottle of dry vermouth and a bottle of warm champagne. Maybe it was the resultant hangover, but among the photos in the following day's paper, the one I found the most moving was the one of DiMaggio, stoicly standing in line at Marina middle school, waiting to be informed whether it was safe to return to his home.
I also have a small shrine in my dining room: a four panel strip of photos (Joe with Marilyn, Joe touching the plate after homering with the Seals, Joe with his father and Dom, Joe with Ted Williams) that a friend salvaged for me when the Home Run Bar closed, and a DiMaggio bobblehead that another friend gave me recently.

This collection of articles and short stories? It doesn't really add anything to all of that.

[EDSON · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jolten Joe Dimaggio is a really really good book because it is almost like a record keeper for Jolten Joe Dimaggio because it tells about all the records and the inspiring stuff Jolten Joe Dimaggio did throughout his baseball career. I like books like this because I play a lot of sports so books like this inspire me to do different things. But to understand this book you have to know somethings about baseball in order to see how what Jolten Joe Dimaggio did was amazing, and really hard, if you don't know somethings about baseball you won't be impressed because you don't know how hard it was to do that. If you know alittle bit about baseball or you know a lot about Baseball, then this is the book for you