February 2010

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Our guest on this episode of Cover the Bases is David Cataneo, author of I Remember Joe Di Maggio: Personal Memories of the Yankee Clipper by the People Who Knew Him Best . The book is published by Turner Publishing.  We discuss the contradictions in DiMaggio’s public persona as we hear stories of his hardened persona cringing from the public spotlight, while at the same time marrying one of the most public women of all time in Marilyn Monroe.

David describes the format of the book as an oral history which he has collected by interviewing players, manager & coaches, sports writers and many others who were direct witnesses to the life of Joe DiMaggio.

The books starts out with a direct anecdote from David and his encounter with DiMaggio as a 13 year old autograph hound, on a mission to get a response from The Yankee Clipper.  One has to wonder what might have happened if the encounter had concluded differently!

Since DiMaggio was such a complex person, this oral history will provide numerous insights into his life from the ones who knew him personally.  David felt that some of the participants in the book came to DiMaggio’s defense in response to the biography Joe DiMaggio : The Hero’s Life written by Richard Ben Cramer, since there were aspects of the book that did not portray him in a good light.

Image, especially a “regal image”, was something that DiMaggio understood and protected mightily throughout the years.  He felt that it was important as a player and a Yankee.  David equates it today to Derek Jeter’s reputation.

Some of the more interesting conversations in the book came from those that had not really shared their stories before.  As David describes them, his subjects are the 25th man on the roster who might not have received much attention from DiMaggio, or the woman in a story he relates who was an assistant at a card show who saw another side of the man.

We move off into a great conversation about the motivation behind Baseballisms.com, and the fact that we now have the digital storage space to capture essential and valuable stories from people who one day will no longer be with us. David believes this is an essential mission because once the person is gone, that story is gone forever. David lost his chance to speak to Johnny Sylvester, the legendary sick boy in 1926 who received the gift of a promised Babe Ruth home run.  Sylvester passed away before they could meet.  To this day, David thinks about the fact he could not chronicle Johnny’s perspective on the story as an adult.

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