Loyalty and Longevity Pt. 4: Dom DiMaggio

In this series, I look at players who played their entire Major League career with the Red Sox, as long as said Major League career lasted at least ten years.

Dom DiMaggio was one of three DiMaggio brothers to play in the Major Leagues.  He was not nearly as famous as his older brother Joe, but was a very good player in his own right.  Had he not missed three seasons from the prime of his career for service in World War II, and played a little bit longer, he may have also been elected to the Hall of Fame.  

DiMaggio made his Major League debut in 1940 after purchased him from the San Francisco Seals in the Pacific Coast League.  He made an immediate impact, hitting .301/.367/.464 with eight home runs and 46 RBIs.  He started out by playing a lot of right field as Doc Cramer still patrolled center field, but it soon became clear that DiMaggio was an elite defensive player and was much better in center.  In 1941, DiMaggio made his first of seven All Star appearances.  His numbers overall slipped somewhat, but he still played well.  And 1942 was more of the same.

Like a lot of other players, DiMaggio missed the 1943, 1944, and 1945 seasons due to service for his country.  He came back to the Red Sox for the 1946 season, along with stars Johnny Pesky, Bobby Doerr, and Ted Williams.  Boston found themselves flushed with talent and rolled over the American League on the way to the World Series.  DiMaggio was an All Star and had his best season so far, hitting .316/.393/.427 with seven home runs and 73 RBIs.  He was the leadoff hitter for the Red Sox for most of the season.  Unfortunately, like most other Red Sox, DiMaggio struggled in the World Series.  He hit just .259 but had three doubles and three RBIs.  But he would be remembered more for coming out of Game 7 with an injury late in the game, which meant that the defensively inferior Leon Culberson was in center field when Enos Slaughter made his "mad dash for home".  DiMaggio may have been able to make the play.

Oddly, just as his brother Joe DiMaggio holds the Yankees record for longest hitting streak, so too does Dom hold the Red Sox record.  He hit safely in 34 consecutive games in 1949, obviously not as impressive as his older brother, but still a decent number.  In 1950, DiMaggio led the league in runs (131), triples (11), and stolen bases (15) while hitting .328/.414/.452.  He followed that up by again leading the league in runs (113) in 1951.  

1952 was DiMaggio's final full season, but he was still productive, hitting .294/.371/.377.  His departure from Boston was bitter.  He could obviously still play, but manager Lou Boudreau wanted to push for a youth movement and used DiMaggio sparingly.  He played in just three games by May 9 and retired.

DiMaggio was nicknamed "The Little Professor" as he simply did not resemble a professional baseball player.  He was significantly smaller than his more famous older brother and he wore glasses, very unusual at the time period.  Dom was a pretty decent hitter on his own, and he was a gifted fielder.  For several seasons, he covered center field for the Red Sox and was one of the best the team ever had.

Hall of Fame Worthy? Pt. 2: Dom DiMaggio

The Hall of Fame has inducted many players who were borderline choices, and many players who deserve induction have been on the outside looking in. I want to look at some players to determine if they deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.

DOM DIMAGGIO
There was a big push in recent years to try to get Dom DiMaggio into the Hall of Fame via the Veterans' Committee. But, is it really warranted?

Dom DiMaggio was a good player. He was an excellent contact hitter with some speed. He was also well-regarded as a fine fielder. He had a career OPS of .802, which is pretty decent considering he was never really a power hitter. His slash line was .298/.383/.419. Certainly good numbers, especially considering he played a prime defensive position, center field. DiMaggio twice lead the league in runs, and lead the league in triples and stolen bases once. He was also a seven-time All Star. He walked significantly more often than he struck out (750 bases on balls, compared to 571 strike outs). Only in his last season, when he played only three games, was he below-average from an OPS+ point of view. So, he was definitely a good player, and he was a part of several very good Red Sox teams.

However, DiMaggio's career was only 11 seasons. He did miss three years during what would have been the prime of his career when he was serving the country in World War II. Who knows what DiMaggio's numbers may have looked like if he had played those other three seasons. He did not have much power, 14 home runs was his career high and he only once hit more than 10 otherwise. Even though he lead the league in stolen bases one year, that number was only 15 as players did not steal nearly as often in his time period. His career high was 16.

THE VERDICT
When it comes down to it, DiMaggio was a very good player who did not play long enough to put together the kind of stats needed to gain entry into the Hall of Fame. If he had played those additional three seasons that he lost to wartime service, we may be having a different discussion. As much as I would love to see him inducted, it will not happen. His recent death also makes it unlikely that he will get more consideration.

10-10-10-10 Seasons in Red Sox History

I was curious about some of the big power/speed seasons in Red Sox history, I will have a post about 20/20 seasons soon (Boston has not had a 30/30 season), so I did some more research. Today however, I was more interested in how many players have had a season in which they had ten or more doubles, triples, home runs, and stolen bases. The triples part is the hard part. You have to have decent power to drive the ball and speed in order to move all the way to third base. So, I formulated a hypothesis as to which players I would see and then did the research.

First Trivia: There are two players that had two such seasons. Who are they?

My hypothesis: I expected to see Nomar Garciaparra, Jackie Jensen, one of the three of Bobby Doerr, Dom DiMaggio, or Johnny Pesky, Tris Speaker, and at least one other Dead Ball Era player.

The Results:
Nomar Garciaparra (2003): 37 doubles, 13 triples, 28 home runs, 19 stolen bases.
Johnny Damon (2002): 34 doubles, 11 triples, 14 home runs, 31 stolen bases.
Nomar Garciaparra (1997): 44 doubles, 11 triples, 30 home runs, 22 stolen bases. And it was his rookie year.
Jackie Jensen (1956): 23 doubles, 11 triples, 20 home runs, 11 stolen bases.
Bobby Doerr (1940): 37 doubles, 10 triples, 22 home runs, 10 stolen bases.
Billy Werber (1934): 41 doubles, 10 triples, 11 home runs, 40 stolen bases. Largely forgotten great player in the 1930's.
Tris Speaker (1912): 53 doubles, 12 triples, 10 home runs, 52 stolen bases.
Jake Stahl (1910): 19 doubles, 16 triples, 10 home runs, 22 stolen bases. Ah, the Dead Ball Era.
Buck Freeman (1902): 38 doubles, 19 triples, 11 home runs, 17 stolen bases.
Buck Freeman (1901): 23 doubles, 15 triples, 12 home runs, 17 stolen bases.

Trivia Answer: As you can see both Nomar Garciaparra and Buck Freeman did it twice.

Results: It's pretty rare to see these seasons. Most players do not hit a lot of triples. It's weird that there were four seasons in the first twenty years of the franchise's existence, then after 1956, there was not another one for over forty years. Garciaparra was an incredible player in his rookie season. My hypothesis was correct, although I did not guess that it would be 1956 that Jensen did it. Also, I was surprised that Doerr was the only player who did it. Pesky did not have much power, but I thought he may have hit ten home runs. I am very surprised that DiMaggio did not do it. Four Dead Ball Era players is surprising.