Joe DiMaggio

[Myankee4life]

I feel that you guys shortchange Joe D.

I know he wasn't the greatest person and he was a Yankee

Some of you guys give Ted Williams credit for his missing war seasons, but not Joe?

Joe missed 1943-45 in arguably his prime. In 1942 he had a solid season .305/24/114. Give him 3 years of that and he gets 72 hr's and 342 rbi's. Im going to leave his avg as it is but his career Hr total would be 433 and rbi's would be a gaudy 1879 in only 16 seasons. Next if you adjust his home park numbers which killed him, add in his 9 ws and great defense. Now do you feel that under these circumstances he may be considered in the top 10 all time player list.

Just a query

[Brian McKenna]

i'm not a big dimaggio fan and i'm not really into projected numbers but one cannot argue with the numbers he put up - can't argue with anything he did on the field - these are season averages

AGE AVG HR RBI
1936-42 21-27 .339 31 133
1943-45 28-31 in service
1946-51 31-36 .304 24 101

top notch

[sschirmer]

Joe had to do something right, he bagged Marylin, if only for a week.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

I feel that you guys shortchange Joe D.

I know he wasn't the greatest person and he was a Yankee

Some of you guys give Ted Williams credit for his missing war seasons, but not Joe?

Joe missed 1943-45 in arguably his prime. In 1942 he had a solid season .305/24/114. Give him 3 years of that and he gets 72 hr's and 342 rbi's. Im going to leave his avg as it is but his career Hr total would be 433 and rbi's would be a gaudy 1879 in only 16 seasons. Next if you adjust his home park numbers which killed him, add in his 9 ws and great defense. Now do you feel that under these circumstances he may be considered in the top 10 all time player list.

Just a query

I think his home park hurt him a lot. More than even "park adjustments" show. Knowing that you can blast a ball 400 to left center and it won't even go out, has an effect mentally. Not only psychologically, but his approach was affected as well. Joe D was an amazing player that does seem to get short changed a bit on here. We fall in love with huge end totals, sometimes not taking into account what kind of "ballplayers" they were.

[64Cards]

Hey, Joe D. is aces in my book. 10 pennants in his 13 seasons, 9 of the 10 years they won the WS. I know he played with a lot of other talented players on those great Yankee teams, but Joe was, without question, the top dog of the bunch. Seemed to be quite arrogant but one hell of a player between the lines, quite respected by his teammates. He had a couple of monster seasons for SF in the PCL before joining NY, so with that and the time lost to WW2, easily could have had 5 years of big stats added to his totals. Still, the numbers he has for a relatively short career speak for themselves.If you throw out the longevity factor on his lifetime stats, a legitimate top ten player.

Give him some props on Marilyn Monroe, too.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

He had a couple of monster seasons for SF in the PCL before joining NY, so with that and the time lost to WW2, easily could have had 5 years of big stats added to his totals.

Give him some props on Marilyn Monroe, too.

He moved up 3 spots on my all time list strictly because of Marilyn. Very nice pull Joe jk

You're not saying we should count his Seals stats are you? Cause then his 56 would be meaningless. The record would be his 61.

In '34 he tore ligaments in his knee. The next day he homered and literally WALKED around the bases, lol. Because of the injury, clubs were scared to sign him. The Cubs passed on a tryout.

Sportswriters were labeling him, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and Shoeless Joe all rolled into one.

[Wee Willie]

Joe's in my top 15. I think anything below top-20 is definitely underrating him.

[Bill Burgess]

I have Joe ranked at #16 in my Top 100 Position Players. I think he was great.

I understand that his ballpark/WWII hurt him seriously. So I do not base my rankings on career totals. I rank Joe ahead of Ted, because I think he was a better all around player. And their hitting was distorted by their parks.

But I do not give Joe credit for his park/WWII because I never took the credit away from him in the 1st place.

I think that Yankee Stadium's huge LF bulge probably caused Joe to become more of a line drive hitter than he would have been in a different ballpark.

[leecemark]

--I think DiMaggio's park adjusted stats seriously underrate him because they don't adjust for handedness and Yankee Stadium was MUCH more difficult for a RH hitter than a LH one. Of course, the flip side to that - and one Yankee fans, especially Ruth and Gehrig fans - don't want to see is that LH batters are at least a little overrated by park adjustments. If RH hitters are more disadvantaged then logically the benefit of the hand neutral adjustment favors the lefties.

[Chisox]

I have Joe ranked at #16 in my Top 100. I think he was great.

I understand that his ballpark/WWII hurt him seriously. So I do not base my rankings on career totals. I rank Joe ahead of Ted, because I think he was a better all around player. And their hitting was distorted by their parks.

But I do not give Joe credit for his park/WWII because I never took the credit away from him in the 1st place.

I think that Yankee Stadium's huge LF bulge probably caused Joe to become more of a line drive hitter than he would have been in a different ballpark.

I actually agree with you on something else!!!
Except, I've got Joe D. #3CF, #8positional player, #11overall, one/two spots ahead of Teddy, respectivly.

[mordeci]

Dimaggio was a great player, but he was no Ted Williams.

For what it's worth, Baseball-reference.com's most similar batters for Dimaggio:

Larry Walker
Chuck Klein
Johnny Mize
Duke Snider
Earl Averill
Manny Ramirez
Ellis Burks
Bob Johnson
Jim Rice
Juan Gonzalez

and for Williams:

Jimmie Foxx
Lou Gehrig
Mel Ott
Mickey Mantle
Frank Robinson
Babe Ruth
Barry Bonds
Ken Griffey
Jeff Bagwell
Al Simmons

[Bill Burgess]

I actually agree with you on something else!!!
Except, I've got Joe D. #3CF, #8positional player, #11overall, one/two spots ahead of Teddy, respectively.

Was bound to happen sooner or later. Only took 1,200 posts.

Did you hear that loud sound in the distance, outside your window? That was actually the popping of my champagne cork, in celebration of your nice compliment.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

--I think DiMaggio's park adjusted stats seriously underrate him because they don't adjust for handedness and Yankee Stadium was MUCH more difficult for a RH hitter than a LH one. Of course, the flip side to that - and one Yankee fans, especially Ruth and Gehrig fans - don't want to see is that LH batters are at least a little overrated by park adjustments. If RH hitters are more disadvantaged then logically the benefit of the hand neutral adjustment favors the lefties.

I believe left center was like 457 when Joe D played there. Right center was just as spacious for Ruth and Gehrig. The short right field in Yankee Stadium might be a knock if we were talking about Mel Ott or something, not Ruth and Gehrig. Really, how many of Ruth's homers were pulled right down the line, and of those, how many landed in the first 5 or so rows? Probably hardly any. Center and right center took far more away than the short right porch gave them, imo.

[KCGHOST]

It is tough to rank a guy as a top ten player in the game when he is probably is, at best, 3rd all-time at his position and most likely 5th. I know he missed three years to the war but do those three years offset the difference in his work and what Cobb, Mays, Mantle, and Speaker actually did?

As for him and Williams, no matter what stat you pick, cumulative or qualitative, Joe isn't in the same league as a hitter and Williams lost 5 years to wars not just three.

That said Joe is definitely a top-tier HoFer.

[Bill Burgess]

Really, how many of Ruth's homers were pulled right down the line, and of those, how many landed in the first 5 or so rows? Probably hardly any. Center and right center took far more away than the short right porch gave them, imo.

Randy,

Think high pop-ups down the RF line, not line drives. Think sky-high pop-ups.