Joe DiMaggio (1 Viewer)

[Encyclopedia Brown]

Out of all the old-time players, I have not read too much specifically the reasons for his greatness.

Ted Williams: great eye, great swing.

Hank Aaron: strong hands, forearms.

Mickey Mantle: freakish strength

Willie Mays: unreal combination of bat speed and strength

Each of those players has a trait that you can visualize.

I have never heard of one specific thing that made DiMaggio so great, that one identifiable thing. With an OBP. nearing .400 obviously he had a great eye.

The one stat that really sticks out: 361 HR. 369 K's.

That's unreal. In contrast, Dave Kingman has 81 more career HR's, but 1,447 more strikeouts.

 

[Eephus]

Smooth

 

[Encyclopedia Brown]

Smooth

Smoother than Jeff Leonard or Dan Gladden?

 

[ttiger72]

Williams was a better hitter, but DiMaggio was a better all-around player.

From what I remember (I read a bio on him as a kid), he had a preternatural sense for the game. Always positioned well in center, and was supposedly never thrown out going first-to-third in his career.

 

[Doctor Detroit]

Smooth

Smoother than Jeff Leonard or Dan Gladden?

Probably not smoother than either of those two or AC Green.

 

[Eephus]

brewed a smooth pot of coffee

 

[Mr. Pickles]

"ethnic"

 

[Encyclopedia Brown]

Williams was a better hitter, but DiMaggio was a better all-around player.From what I remember (I read a bio on him as a kid), he had a preternatural sense for the game. Always positioned well in center, and was supposedly never thrown out going first-to-third in his career.

56 games in a row.Not insignificant.

 

[Notorious T.R.E.]

"ethnic"

Made a decent gravy.

 

[shadyridr]

Dunked his donuts

 

[Eephus]

Left and gone away

 

[TLEF316]

"ethnic"

for some reason, i found this really, really funny

 

[Time Kibitzer]

He had a big penis.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Al Kaline with a better agent.

 

[sports_fan]

Sometimes not having a defining trait is exactly what makes a player so good. It makes it harder for pitchers and catchers to develop a good approach against them.

 

[RnR]

Al Kaline with a better agent.

Not even close.

 

[Adebisi]

Al Kaline with a better agent.

Not even close.

Steve Balboni

 

[Greco]

Al Kaline with a better agent.

Not even close.

Kaline was that much better?

 

[curta269]

A more popular but not as flashy Jim Edmonds.

 

[RnR]

I used to be of the opinion that DiMaggio was overrated. I've since backed off that stance. His career numbers are actually quite remarkable given that he gave up his age 28, 29, and 30 seasons to WWII. Give him 3 prime seasons in the middle of those numbers, and you're looking at one of the best CF'ers of all time.

Al Kaline is a nice player that had a long career, but come on guys, he never even had a 30 HR season. His most similar player according to B-R is Harold Baines.

 

[Da Guru]

I know that joe D. lost many a home run playing his whole career in old Yankee Stadium. 430 to the left center alley.

Joe DiMaggio was acutely handicapped by playing at Yankee Stadium. Every time he batted in his home field during his entire career, he did so knowing that it was physically impossible for him to hit a home run to the half of the field directly in front of him. If you look at a baseball field from foul line to foul line, it has a 90-degree radius. From the power alley in left center field (430 in Joe's time) to the fence in deep right center field (407 ft), it is 45-degrees. And Joe DiMaggio never hit a single home run over the fences at Yankee Stadium in that 45-degree graveyard. It was just too far. Joe was plenty strong; he routinely hit balls in the 425-foot range. But that just wasn't good enough in cavernous Yankee Stadium. Like Ruth, he benefited from a few easy homers each season due to the short foul line distances. But he lost many more than he gained by constantly hitting long fly outs toward center field. Whereas most sluggers perform better on their home fields, DiMaggio hit only 41 percent of his career home runs in the Bronx. He hit 148 homers at Yankee Stadium. If he had hit the same exact pattern of batted balls with a typical modern stadium as his home, he would have belted about 225 homers during his home field career.

 

[RnR]

I used to be of the opinion that DiMaggio was overrated. I've since backed off that stance. His career numbers are actually quite remarkable given that he gave up his age 28, 29, and 30 seasons to WWII. Give him 3 prime seasons in the middle of those numbers, and you're looking at one of the best CF'ers of all time.Al Kaline is a nice player that had a long career, but come on guys, he never even had a 30 HR season. His most similar player according to B-R is Harold Baines.

Further research of DiMaggio is impressive:BaseballReference.comMost Similar by Ages 21. Albert Pujols (962) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C22. Albert Pujols (939) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C23. Albert Pujols (955) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C24. Ted Williams (937) * 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C25. Albert Pujols (911) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C26. Albert Pujols (897) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C27. Hank Aaron (888) * 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C... and then he misses 28, 29, 30, 31 to WWII.