Photos courtesy The Boston Red Sox By Ron Hayes OCEAN RIDGE
— His older brother was “Joltin’ Joe,” the baseball legend with the
56-game hitting streak. He was the “Little Professor,” the 5-foot-9
center fielder with spectacles. But in the hearts of Red Sox fans,
Dom DiMaggio was as big a hero, and a nicer man. A seasonal
resident of Pelican Cove for more than 20 years, Mr. DiMaggio died
May 7 at his summer home in Marion, Mass., while watching the Red
Sox beat Cleveland 13-3. He was 92 and had been suffering from
pneumonia. “He was in a haze, but he knew what was going on,” said
Emily DiMaggio, his wife of 60 years. “You could tell by the smile
on his face that he was pleased.” Signed to the Red Sox in 1940,
Mr. DiMaggio enlisted in the U.S. Navy after the 1942 season, then
returned to the team in 1946. He retired in 1953 as a .298 career
hitter. He batted .300 four times and led the American League in
runs twice and triples and stolen bases once each. He was a member
of the Red Sox Hall of Fame and still holds the team hitting record
of 34 consecutive games in 1949. That number doesn’t approach his
older brother’s all-time 56-game hitting streak of 1941, but the
fans in Fenway Park retaliated with a ditty: “Oh, Dominic DiMaggio,
“He's better than his brother Joe!” And if not a better player, he
was by all accounts a kinder one, always happy to spend time
signing autographs and chatting with fans, unlike his more famous,
and famously prickly, brother. “I know a lot of athletes and some
are nice and some are not so nice,” said John Sullivan of West Palm
Beach, a former executive with the Topps baseball card company and
a friend for more than 50 years. “Some are full of themselves, but
that was not Dominic. He could be in a circle of people and the
kids are dragging on him and asking for his autograph, but it never
got him upset. He just did what he had to do and laughed. “He never
achieved his brother’s fame,” Sullivan said, “but he was a better
person, in my opinion.” Dominic Paul DiMaggio was born Feb. 12,
1917, in San Francisco, the youngest of the nine children of
Guiseppe and Rosalie DiMaggio. Like his older brothers, Joe and
Vince, Mr. DiMaggio got his start with the San Francisco Seals of
the Pacific Coast League. Joe DiMaggio died in 1999. Vince, who
also played 10 seasons in the National League, died in 1986. After
leaving baseball, Mr. DiMaggio founded a company that manufactured
automobile upholstery. He was a supporter of the Dana-Farber Cancer
Institute and the Pediatric Oncology Support Team at St. Mary’s
Medical Center and hosted golf tournaments both in Massachusetts
and Palm Beach County for these and other charities. In addition to
his wife, Mr. DiMaggio is survived by two sons, Dominic Jr., of
Atkinson, N.H., and Peter of Westford. Mass.; a daughter, Emily of
Wayland, Mass.; six grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.
A funeral Mass was held May 11 in Wellesley, Mass. Donations in Mr.
DiMaggio’s memory may be made to the DiSanctis Clinic Research
Fund, c/o MGH Development Office, 165 Cambridge St., Boston, MA,
02114.
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