Section B·Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, March 9, 1999
Since baseball hit its boom in the mid-1900s, Joe DiMaggio has personified what the sport should be. He forever will be revered in the heart of Americans as the late, great
Yankee Clipper
DiMaggio milestones
November 25, 1914 - DiMaggio is born in Martinez, Calif.
May 1936 — DiMaggio makes his Major League debut with the New York Yankees.
October 1936 -- He wins his first of nine World Series titles.
1939 – DiMaggio is selected the league's Most Valuable Player, an award he would win two more times ('41, '47).
May 15, 1941 — The 56-game hitstreak beats.
july 17, 1941 The streak ends in front of a crowd of 67, 468 people in Cleveland's Municipal Stadium.
1943-1945 — DiMaggio left baseball for three seasons to serve in World War II.
1946 — Returns to baseball.
■ 1946 — Returns to baseball.
■ October 1951 — DiMaggio wins his ninth World Series title.
- December 11 1951 — An injury-hampered DiMaggio announces his retirement from baseball.
1955 - DiMeggio is elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
January 14, 1954 — He marries actress Marilyn Monroe. They divorce nine months later.
1969 — Sportswriters vote DiMaggio the greatest living baseball player.
March 8, 1999 — DiMaggio dies at age 84 in Hollywood, Fla.
Web sites contributing to this time line:
http://www.espn.go.jp
http://xroads.virginia.edu
http://www.cnn.com/US/9903/08/
dimaggio.facts.ep/
Photos by Robyn Brooks/KANSAN,
courtesy of Sports Page Brewery
—By Chris Wristen Kansan Sportswriter
Continued from page 1B
forward toward communion and crossed paths with DiMaggio. Dad looked, took a step, looked again, and stopped momentarily, then half-sprinted back to the new.
He was thrilled. Being the hardcore tourists that we were, we had an assortment of Yankees pennants with us in church, and he began sorting through them.
"You are not going to ask him for an autograph," my mother half-asked, half-ordered. His search for a suitable pen was his only answer because DiMaggio and his travelling companion, Morris Engelberg were heading
out the si lowed the borg had a
but Dad caught them quickly.
He asked Engelberg, "Do you mind if I ask your friend for an autograph?"
The Yankee Clipper heard the question, shook his head no, and continued walking. My father, obviously disappointed, turned to walk away, but with a last look back, saw DiMaggio walking back toward him.
He took the pennant and pen into the same hands that hit in 56 straight games and wore 10 World Series rings. He signed the pennant with flourished penmanship that students no longer
loved in my life that she said:
"You've got to have respect." As if
to say, "What are you doing
following me out of church?"
"Yes, sir, my wife told me not to come out here," my father replied.
"She was right." DiMaggio said, and then with a wink and his trademark smile, "But don't bawl her out too much." And with that he walked away.
Two months later, he was in the hospital, and now eight months later, he's gone forever. I hope that wherever he is he took some of our gratitude with him.
Hoffman is a Lenexa junior in journalism.
The Associated Press
In midcentury, when baseball stood above all American sports, Joe DiMaggio symbolized what fans loved about the game. Fifty years later, he had lost little of his star quality.
"He was to people all over the world what a baseball player was supposed to be like," former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda said of DiMaggio, who died Monday at age 84.
"If you said to God, 'Create someone who was what a baseball player should be,' God would have created Joe D'Maggio. ... And he did."
Tim McCarver, who spent two decades as a catcher and is now one of baseball's preeminent broadcasters added, "The very mention of his name personifies class, dignity, elegance and professionalism, both on and off the field."
To those who knew him and to those who only admired him from afar, DiMaggio was the quintessential American hero.
"This son of Italian immigrants gave every American something to believe in," President Clinton said. "He became the very symbol of American grace, power and skill... I have no doubt that when future generations look back at the best of America in the 20th century, they will think of the Yankee Clipper and all that he achieved."
Mark McGwire, himself a larger-than-life figure after hitting 70 home runs last season, said he was saddened by DMiagio's death.
"He was one of the best in the game," said McGwire, who never got a chance to meet DiMaggio. "It's a big loss for the game and for life in general."
DiMaggio was a precursor of the modern athlete. In 1948, he signed the first $100,000 contract, and the paper
and pen from that deal went on display yesterday at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.
And like Michael Jordan a half-century later, he was the most credible commercial spokesman in sports.
He was the reason many Italian Americans in New York rooted for the Yankees, just as African Americans rooted for the Brooklyn Dodgers because they made Jackie Robinson the first African American in the major leagues.
"In this century, there have been three baseball players who transcended their sport to become part of American legend," Vice President Al Gore said. "Where Babe Ruth was known for his power and Jackie Robinson was known for his courage, Joe DiMaggio was known for dignity and grace."
That was evident to DiMaggio's fellow players.
"In 1951, while I was still in high school, I went to New York to play in the Hearst All-Star game," recalled Al Kaline, who went on to join DiMaggio in the Hall of Fame. "They took us through the locker room, and Joe was sitting in front of his locker. I stopped and shook his hand. It was like meeting a god."
Ted Williams, who played in the Boston outfield next to DiMaggio's brother, Dom, was the contemporary most often likened to the Yankee Clipper.
"There is no one Ted Williams admired, respected and envied more than Joe DiMaggio." Williams said.
To his contemporaries, he was much more than a great player, he was role model.
"I idolized him for what he represented. He was a winner, a champion and a true icon," said Lasorda.
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