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Home > Baseball > MLB Hall of Famers > Joe DiMaggio
Joe DiMaggio
Baseball is an outdoor sport in which a pitcher pitches a hard, fist sized ball to the hitting area of a batter. The batter hits the hard ball with a tapered, smooth, cylindrical bat made up of wood or metal. The batsman scores by running counter-clockwise within the four markers called the bases arranged at the corners of a diamond. Baseball is sometimes called hardball to differentiate it from similar games such as softball.
Joe DiMaggio was born on Wednesday, November 25, 1914, in Martinez, California. DiMaggio was 21 years old when he broke into the big leagues on May 3, 1936, with the New York Yankees. His height was 6 feet 2 inches with a weight of 193 pounds. During the centennial celebration of professional baseball, he was named the game's greatest living player. Since that 1969 assessment, his legend has grown with the fans that made it. He remained a top-drawer celebrity almost 40 years after playing his final game.
His natural talent became apparent in 1933 when he batted safely in 61 consecutive games playing for his hometown San Francisco Seals in the Pacific Coast League. He came to New York in 1936 and set American League rookie records for 132 runs and 15 triples, besides hitting 0.323 with 29 Home Runs and 125 Runs Batted In. He has also hit as high as 0.381 in 1939 and struck out only 369 times in his career while hitting 361 homers, a phenomenal ratio for a power hitter. But DiMaggio was more than a hitter. He was a splendid defensive outfielder with a great throwing arm. He was virtually flawless in 1947, making one lone error on the year.
His second career was beset by injuries and then eroding skills. But he was still DiMaggio. Boston claimed an easy pennant in 1946, but there would be no Red Sox dynasty. The Yankees were World Champions in 1947, 1949, 1950, and 1951. Even while playing most of 1948 with a painful heel injury, DiMaggio almost brought the Yankees home. He was more than an exceptional athlete and he was the consummate professional.
Unfortunately Joe DiMaggio died on 08 March 1999, in Hollywood, Florida. He was an instant star. He was a beautiful hitter with a classic swing. He had an exceptionally wide stance that gave him a controlled short stride, strong wrists that generated enormous power.
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