Dimaggio's Best Season?

[pheasant]

I've never understood why the Yankees didn't move Dimaggio. He had those nasty bone spurs in his feet. He was broken down like Mantle. Ironically, Ruth was the most durable in his later years(ages 35+) out of all of the Yankees greats from 50+ years ago.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Did loads of research a while back, Proquest newspaper archives. Surprised at how many injuries Joe had over the years, not just the late years. Seemed like he had bad legs early on, taped up often.

Wonder why the Yanks never though about moving him out of centerfield, lots of ground to cover, not good for the legs.

[willshad]

Most impressive is the fact that, despite swinging at everything, Joe D never struck out. Amazing to think how he hit for such average AND power, while swinging away, and seldom missing. Must have been an absolute magician with the bat.

[pheasant]

Dimaggio was awesome. He's probably a top 20 guy. He probably could have been a top 10 guy had he stayed healthy and lost lost those years to the war. He was a great player.

But he doesn't crack the very upper echelon.

Willie Mays had 63% more plate appearances and still matched Joe's career OPS+, yet doubled Dimaggio's WAR(150 to 75). I'll agree that Dimaggio's peak hitting years beat Mays, mainly due to Dimaggio's incredible road stats. But Mays' fielding and baserunning more than make up the difference. Dimaggio managed 5 seasons during his entire career in which he had a WAR of 6.0 or higher(and 3 years of 7.0+). Mays had 13 consecutive years of 7.0 or higher.

Of course, Dimaggio is one of my favorites. He had some great years. And to be fair, I have only Ruth(and maybe Bonds including his juiced years) taking down Mays.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

The only reason that DiMaggio is so low is because of his lack of longevity( which he could not control). And we already discussed how he should have been called up earlier In his prime, Joe D was as good a player as any.

I don't rate ballplayers myself but it's been my observation that most BBF posters take longevity into account when ranking players. Obviously, World War II was out of DiMaggio's control. However, Joltin' Joe wasn't that durable. He was hurt and injured often. Retiring at age 36 does hurt him in rankings. Other all-timer greats were still elite players at age 36 (Mays, Ruth, Aaron, Wagner, Speaker, and many others)

[JR Hart]

Dear JR Hart:

If those folk at the espn forum were down-grading Dimaggio; they weren't listening to Bill James very closely when they did so.

In his latest Historical abstract; James rated Evans the 10th best 3rd basemen, with Dimaggio as the 5th best Center fielder.

Overall, he rated Dimaggio 13th best ever.....and Evans wasn't even in the top 100.

Good for James

Btw Evans only played half of his career at 3B. In some of his better years 83, 85, 87 he was not at 3B. And he wouldn't be a top 50 1B

The only reason that DiMaggio is so low is because of his lack of longevity( which he could not control). And we already discussed how he should have been called up earlier In his prime, Joe D was as good a player as any.

[Iowanic]

Dear JR Hart:

If those folk at the espn forum were down-grading Dimaggio; they weren't listening to Bill James very closely when they did so.

In his latest Historical abstract; James rated Evans the 10th best 3rd basemen, with Dimaggio as the 5th best Center fielder.

Overall, he rated Dimaggio 13th best ever.....and Evans wasn't even in the top 100.

[pheasant]

I'm pretty sure that Mcgwire or Piazza had a 1.2000 OPS on the road at some point. Too lazy to check, what about Mcgwire in 1996 and 1998...Piazza in 1995 and 2000?

Piazza came up short, mainly because he didn't walk much. But in 1995, Piazza went .384/.432/.732 for for a 1.166. Sick stats, but walks held him down. Mcgwire did it twice

Mcgwire 1995 1.222
Mcgwire 1996 1.228

I like Piazza's 1995 road stats better than Mcgwire's 1995 road stats
Granted, Mcgwire's OPS was 56 points higher.

But Piazza in 250 PA, had 23 HRs, 57 RBI, and hit .384, but only 20 BB
Mcgwire in 229 PA, had 24 HRs, 52 RBI and hit .297, but had 49 BB

Mcgwire's walks gave him far few at-bats, which allowed him a higher slugging% and ob%.

[willshad]

I did some digging here. I can't confirm this, but I believe Dimaggio is one of only 5 players in MLB history to post a 1.200 OPS on the road for a season.

Here's the list of 1.200 OPS seasons on the road that I came up with:

J Dimaggio 1939 1.255
T Williams 1941 1.228
T Williams 1957 1.318
Ba. Bonds 1993 1.247
Ba. Bonds 2001 1.332
Ba. Bonds 2002 1.438
Ba. Bonds 2004 1.252
Lou Gehrig 1927 1.296
Lou Gehrig 1930 1.289
Lou Gehrig 1932 1.208
Babe Ruth 1920 1.260
Babe Ruth 1921 1.251
Babe Ruth 1923 1.255
Babe Ruth 1924 1.237
Babe Ruth 1926 1.267
Babe Ruth 1927 1.249
Babe Ruth 1931 1.238
Babe Ruth 1932 1.217

I'm pretty sure that Mcgwire or Piazza had a 1.2000 OPS on the road at some point. Too lazy to check, what about Mcgwire in 1996 and 1998...Piazza in 1995 and 2000?

[JR Hart]

Even the biggest "Sabr-nerd" in the world, bending and twisting the most advanced metrics available, couldn't POSSIBLY rank Darrell Evans over Joe Dimaggio

One would think. There seems to be much more common sense here.

DiMaggio wasn't held back in the PCL. The Seals waited until they got the best deal for him. They weren't anyone's farm team in that era.

What’s the difference? He missed at least 2 or 3 seasons in which he was obviously big league ready. Who had more natural talent than Joe D?

Top ten career batting average.........7 out of the 10 are left handed batters.
Since Joe's first year 1936 to the year 2006...........batters with a career BA. over .300
LH batters career .300 or better--.344---.338---.331---.328---.328
RH batters career .300 or better..............only one, Joe Dimaggio .325.
.

Great analysis

Lets stop selling this guy short. Played in a park death on RH hitters, RH batter facing lots of pitchers pitching from the same side RH. .

BRAVO!! It boggles my mind that people dog him

Short career counts against him.

If you say so. I will assert that prewar DiMaggio was as talented and productive all around player as any ever. He was just a marvelous player. And post war Joe wasn’t bad. He Probably could have been MVP in 1948 and 1950.

. But that's ok because the Yankee Clipper was so ridiculously talented and skilled at every aspect of baseball it didn't matter than Joe wasn't a 100 walks per season type of hitter.

The wisdom of Honus

[JR Hart]

You couldn't be more full of it if you tried. I really don't know why you exaggerate so much to prove your point, it just makes you look even more absurd to those who know better. No one ranks Evans or Fain over DiMaggio and you know that, you're just being difficult for the sake of it. There's a difference between not thinking DiMaggio is as good as Mantle or Williams (which he isn't) and thinking he's not as good as Evans or Fain; I don't know why you can't make this distinction.

Oh please

That site was gaga over players like Evans and Fain. There even Evans for HOF posts. Conversly, the posters there were constantly downgrading DiMaggio. I'm sure that Joe D wasn't in your top 30, which is absurd.

[pheasant]

Stan Musial had a 1.257 OPS on the road in 1948.

Norm Cash in 1961 was 1.199. Can't get any closer than that.

Nice catch, Giambi. I didn't even think Musial would have had a chance, given that St Louis was a decent place to hit. But there can't be too many more. A 1.200 OPS on the road is an incredible feat.

I think Joe Dimaggio might have been a top 10 guy ever had his career not been cut short. That guy was amazing. Injuries and the war robbed him huge-time. Dimaggio was perhaps the 3rd best right-handed hitter ever for peak value(behind Hornsby and Pujols).

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Everyone can bat which ever way is best for them. You can't choose your park, or your league or the year you were born so much.

Maybe more so today, when some very young are more aware of the LH advantage Brett.
I would bet that 90 or more percent of players over the years, especially way back batted the way they did was because those that first introduced them to game...........that was the way they batted, you didn't pick.

I saw it all by life witrh many other, the father, the older brother or a friend. Your first lesson with a bat, they would stand behind you in their position and show you how to swing. .
You must already know there were far more RH people, throwing and batting in the genreral population, more odds you were going to be taught the same way.

It wasn't about choice Brett, if your 7 or 8 years old you didn't question left or right.
If you want to say tough luck for Joe or any other Rh batter, that makes sense.

[Ben Grimm]

I liked Joe D's '39 season the best. In fact, I liked it so much it prompted me to buy his '39 Play Ball baseball card about 10 years ago.

[GiambiJuice]

I did some digging here. I can't confirm this, but I believe Dimaggio is one of only 5 players in MLB history to post a 1.200 OPS on the road for a season.

Here's the list of 1.200 OPS seasons on the road that I came up with:

J Dimaggio 1939 1.255
T Williams 1941 1.228
T Williams 1957 1.318
Ba. Bonds 1993 1.247
Ba. Bonds 2001 1.332
Ba. Bonds 2002 1.438
Ba. Bonds 2004 1.252
Lou Gehrig 1927 1.296
Lou Gehrig 1930 1.289
Lou Gehrig 1932 1.208
Babe Ruth 1920 1.260
Babe Ruth 1921 1.251
Babe Ruth 1923 1.255
Babe Ruth 1924 1.237
Babe Ruth 1926 1.267
Babe Ruth 1927 1.249
Babe Ruth 1931 1.238
Babe Ruth 1932 1.217

Stan Musial had a 1.257 OPS on the road in 1948.

Norm Cash in 1961 was 1.199. Can't get any closer than that.