Please tell me, what was Joe DiMaggio's job? Ah, yes, you say, Joltin' Joe was a baseball player. He wasn't the greatest baseball player of all time, but he did pretty well. Fifty-one years worth of baseball players have been added to major league rosters since his retirement and none is considered his equal.
Joe DiMaggio became an icon of icons. He was "the most celebrated athlete of his age, the best big game player of his era, and a baseball player who transcended the barriers of sports in terms of the breadth of his fame" (Halberstam, xxi). Yet, he wasn't, by his own admission, a great man. He was ".just a man trying to get along" (Halberstam, 7) and he got along better than most.
Joe DiMaggio joined the New York Yankees in 1936. It was a world that was very different from the ones that DiMaggio would occupy in his ensuing years. When Dimaggio was a rookie, the only time fans could see him would be at the ballpark, in a movie newsreel, or if they were fortunate, in a restaurant or similar public place.
There was little baseball coverage on radio in 1936, and television was not yet significant, which meant that the fans' only source of information was newspapers. The lives of the baseball players and the writers who covered them were interwoven, since travel by train, not plane, created situations in which avoidance was difficult, if not impossible.
Sports writing style and objectives were different in the 1930s and 1940s from what they are today. The general attitude during most of Joe DiMaggio's career was heroic coverage with no attempts at reporting personal information of any significance. Players trusted writers much more than today's players trust the media, especially considering the tabloid mentality of most modern writers who "report" about modern athletes (www.pbs.org).
The players of the 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s escaped the "chipmunk" approach followed by Leonard Schecter of the New York Post and emulated by many who followed, such as Dick Schaap and Mike Lupica. They were designated "chipmunks" by veteran sportswriter Milton Gross because Shector's approach to an interview was analogous to a "chipmunk, digging for nuts" (www.dominionpost.com).
Eventually, Joe DiMaggio would become a victim of the new approach to sports writing. One of the first attempts to discover the "real" Yankee Clipper was made by Gay Talese, who wanted to ".strip away the façade with which most celebrities protected themselves."(Halberstam, xx). Talese wanted to create a picture of Joe DiMaggio that revealed the private Joe DiMaggio and he succeeded, despite the fact that he was unable to interview DiMaggio at length.
In attempting to show "Joe DiMaggio, the person," writers such as Talese and Richard Ben Cramer have presented information and then have interpreted that information for the reader. One reviewer of Cramer's A Hero's Life makes the significant point that, since DiMaggio wasn't the type who revealed his thoughts, a lot of guesswork is implied. How did anyone but DiMaggio know what DiMaggio was doing when he was alone? (www.epinions.com)
When Joe DiMaggio played baseball, did people care what he was going to do that night? Did they care what he did that morning? They did not. At least, not while Joe DiMaggio was at the plate or trying to avoid colliding with right fielder Tommy Henrich in pursuit of a fly ball (www.pbs.org). All that was important was what Joe DiMaggio did during the game. And that is as it should be.
Politically correct America (an arrogant term that ignores the rest of the North and South American continents) wants role models. It wants celebrities, especially athletes, to be role models. That is terribly unfair and a weakness in those who shift responsibility from themselves to others.
Joe DiMaggio became an unwilling role model. It was not a role he asked for or was it a role at which he attempted to succeed. He did not have to be nor did he want to be a role model for your child. You have that responsibility.
But a paradox exists. Americans are curious and want to know things they have no right to know about their role models. They want idols but they want to find out things that will blemish their idols. When it is discovered that the role model is an ordinary person who has a valued talent but who is flawed, resentment results. The role model's perfect image is shattered.
The role of a baseball player is to be a baseball player. What he does before or after a game or during the off season is nobody's concern but his own. Whether he is a "good" person (whatever that means) or an "evil" person (an even more ambiguous term) does not matter as long as he does not break any laws and does his job. Those who disapprove of his actions can choose to express their displeasure or not attend his team's games.
Joe DiMaggio wanted something that is becoming increasingly more difficult to get. He simply wanted privacy. He did not want others to interfere in his life. Because he defended that right, he has been excoriated by some who believe their right to delve into his privacy supercedes civility. Wanting privacy does not make one a "bad person."
Gay Talese relates how difficult it had been for him to gain access to DiMaggio. When the writer attempted to see him at his San Francisco restaurant, DiMaggio angrily stated that his privacy was being invaded. DiMaggio was conciliatory but firm when he defended his privacy. With typical DiMaggio effortlessness, he told Talese that he didn't interfere with other people's lives and he didn't expect others to interfere with his (Talese, 7).
DiMaggio then excused himself. He was late for an appointment. Talese left and wandered to the pier across the street from the restaurant. After a short while he started walking back to the parking lot near the restaurant.
A blue Impala stopped in front of him. Joe DiMaggio leaned out of the window. He gently asked Talese if he had a car. Talese simply said, "yes." DiMaggio responded, "Oh, I would have given you a ride." (Talese, 7).
The above incident speaks volumes about Joe DiMaggio.
References
Halberstam, David, ed., The Best American Sports Writing of the Century. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin Company, 1999.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dimaggio/filmmore/reference/interview/allen03.html
http://www.dominionpost.com/a/sports/2001/04/28/az/
http://www.cnn.com/COMMUNITY/transcripts/2000/10/25/cramer/
http://www.epinions.com/book-review-1E96-1801F1E3-3A169ED8-prod2
» Harold Friend has been a Yankees fan since Joe DiMaggio's last year in pinstripes and, with all due modesty, is hoping for another Yankees World Championship.
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Posted March 6, 2002.
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