Getting Serious and Looking Back--Peter

Well, Jenn, things are really getting serious here with Tampa Bay. After coming back with five in the 6th last night, we had Lester going today, and he'd looked as if his early season problems might be working out in his last start. Unfortunately, he gave up eight big ones in less than five innings and took another loss. Not sure what the problem is. His K's are still among the tops in the league, but everything else is getting hammered. If he & JB don't get squared away, and fast, we could be in deep trouble. I mean we can bring up Buchholz, but Smoltz has been shut down due to pain in his surgically repaired shoulder, and we're already into May.

Separately I want to go back in time to a gentler era. Back to the '40's and 50's when I began my addiction to the Sox. Yesterday one of the Sox leading players of that era died, a guy who batted nearly .300 for his career and was among the best defensive centerfielders of his day; a guy who hit over .300 in his rookie year and STILL holds the Sox record for consecutive games with a hit. I'm talking about the Little Professor, Dom DiMaggio, or as Teddy Ballgame always called him, Dommy.

Joe's younger brother, and the third member of the family to play MLB, Dom came up in 1940, missed three years in WWII at the height of his career and retired after the 1953 season. In addition to the hitting streak, 34 games, he also had more hits than anyone--ANYONE--over the ten years he played, and held the record for RBI's for the American League by a leadoff man--until another Sox player, Nomar Garciaparra, broke it. Yet he still never made the Hall--an embarrassment for MLB in my opinion. Although he wasn't quite the hitter his brother, Joe, was due to his diminutive stature, he was a better fielder and even held the record for career putouts by a centerfielder in the AL, 503, until it was broken in 1977. He was selected to eight All-Star teams, and may have been the indirect reason the Cards won the 1946 Series from the Sox. Nothing he did wrong. He drove in two runs in the 8th Game Seven, knotting the score at 3, but injured his leg running out the hit. He had to come out and, in the bottom of the inning, with a man on first, the Cards' Walker hit a ball to his sub, who wasn't half the fielder Dom was. To compound things, the fielder, Culbertson, made a poor throw to Johnny Pesky at short for the relay to try to catch the runner from first, Slaughter. Because of this poor throw, Slaughter tried for home and easily scored the winning run of the Series. He later admitted that had DiMaggio been in the field he'd never have tried for home. Maybe there really was a curse. Anyway, the rest is history. "You could look it up", as Ol' Case would say.

After Dom retired, he became a multimillionaire by building a very successful business manufacturing vinyl interior material for cars. Had to be successful in business--his top salary was only $40,000. When he died yesterday, he still lived in the Boston area, a faithful member of Red Sox Nation to the last.
Bye, Dommy. You were truly a treasure.