Dimaggio: An Illustrated Life

As Stout sums it up, Joe DiMaggio performed superbly the functions that a ballplayer must fulfill: hit with power, run, throw and field. Further, he was grace personified and invariably conducted himself with dignity. Born in California in 1914, the son of immigrants, he made his professional debut with the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League in 1932, drawing headlines the following year when he hit in 61 straight games. He joined the New York Yankees in 1936 and played until 1951, with two years out to serve in WWII; in his last 13 seasons, the Yankees won the pennant 10 times and DiMaggio established many World Series records. He is most famed, however, for his 56-game regular-season hitting streak (1941). If the text sounds like a panegyric, how could it be otherwise? Johnson is curator of the New England Sports Museum in Cambridge, Mass.; Stout is a freelance sportswriter. (Dec.)