Dominic Paul DiMaggio ("Dom")
Bats: R
Throws
: R
Height: 5-9
Weight: 168 lb.
Born: February 12, 1917 in San Francisco, CA
A phenomenal talent stands out. A phenomenal talent with the last name DiMaggio is historic. Yet, even with an inspirational minor and major league baseball career, Dominic DiMaggio has always labored in the shadow of his famous older brother.
Dom was no slouch himself, as evidenced by his 11-year career in the big leagues with the Boston Red Sox where he sported a career batting average of .298.
Before that, like Joe, Dom made his mark in the Pacific Coast League (PCL). He played with the San Francisco Seals from 1937 to 1939, hitting .306, .307 and .360 in those three seasons. In that fabulous 1939 season, he belted 239 hits in 664 at-bats. Never much of a power hitter, he managed only 24 home runs in his three-year PCL stint.
Not bad for someone whose modest goal was to “play just one season of pro ball.’’
“That really would have been a dream just to do that,’’ he says. “I don’t mean the majors. Just playing a year for San Francisco. Breaking in, I overcame what I came to realize were certain handicaps – wearing glasses and being small.’’
The youngest of nine children, the bespectacled 5-foot-9 center fielder was nicknamed “The Little Professor.’’
His older brothers, Vince and Joe, had preceded him with the Seals. For nearly a decade, there was at least one DiMaggio in the PCL. Dom played for Galileo High School until he was signed by the Seals in 1937
Dom remembers his first PCL game:
“It was against Sacramento and I’m pretty sure the pitcher was Bob Klinger,’’ he says. “He could throw hard. He allowed us eight hits and I got four of them: a ground ball to deep short, a bunt down the first-base line, a blooper of second and a two-bouncer that hit the first baseman in the kneecaps.
“Put them all together and they wouldn’t reach from home plate to the right-field wall.’’
DiMaggio says that a column in a San Francisco newspaper motivated him to make a name for himself.
“The columnist said Joe was the greatest (Seals) player that ever lived,’’ he recalls. “But in the same column, he said ‘That little guy playing center now (Dom) is only playing center because his name is DiMaggio.’
“That was the turning factor. That lit my desire.’’
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The .361 season was good enough to land Dom a $75,000 contract with the Boston Red Sox for the 1940 season. By 1941 he was the every day center fielder, and, with teammate and friend Ted Williams, one of the top stars in the Red Sox lineup.
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DiMaggio's major league career was interrupted by a three year stint with the U.S. Navy during WWII. Returning in 1946, DiMaggio went on to become an offensive powerhouse, a multi-year all-star, and one of the top defensive outfielders ever to play the game at the major league level.
He calls his three-year PCL stint “the glory days,’’ and remembers telling reporters that the major leagues was “only 10 percent better” than the PCL.
“I loved it,’’ he says. “We played doubleheaders on Sundays and holidays and were off on Mondays. It was great.’’
DiMaggio joined the Red Sox in 1940 and hit .301 as a rookie. His career was interrupted by a three-year stint in the military during World War II. His best season was 1950, when he batted .328, but in 1949 he set a Red Sox record by hitting in 34 consecutive games.
“I hit leadoff every year except 1946, when I batted third,’’ he says. “We won the pennant that year, and I guess I wondered why I didn’t bat third more often.’’
These days, he lives comfortably in Marion, Mass., “on Buzzards Bay’’ with his wife of 57 years, Emily. They have three grown children and six grandchildren.
In addition to Joe, one of the game’s legends, older brother Vince played for five National League teams. It was once said of the brothers' talents: "Joe is the best hitter, Dom is the best fielder, and Vince is the best singer."
Aside from his PCL Hall of Fame nod, Dom was enshrined in the Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame in 1978 and the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame in 1992 for his stint with the Seals. His numbers, and his drive have made him a topic of discussion for Veteran's Committee consideration as an inductee to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.
| Eddie Basinski | Dominic “Dom” DiMaggio | Bert Ellison |
| Tommy Lasorda |
Dario Lodigiani | Bill Schuster | Bill Weiss |
