During DiMaggio’s controversial 1938 holdout, he made an arrangement with San Francisco owner Charley Graham to take batting practice with the Seals so he could stay sharp while discussions with the Yankees continued. During one round of BP, DiMaggio was hammering every pitch that left-hander Jimmy Rego delivered. Worried that manager Lefty O’Doul might cut him from the squad, Rego stopped grooving pitches to the Yankee slugger and started using his best stuff. “Jesus, I was throwing hard and shoving the bat right up his ass,” the hurler later recalled. DiMaggio—perhaps feeling the pressure of his ongoing contract dispute—got so frustrated, he threw his bat out toward the mound before stalking off the field.
With
the country still in the throes of the Great Depression, DiMaggio knew that he was
jeopardizing his reputation by turning down a salary that most Americans could
only dream about. Worse yet, the Yankees were protected by baseball’s reserve
clause, which essentially stated that players were property of the teams they
had signed with until owners decided to trade or release them. Realizing the
gravity of the situation, DiMaggio ultimately decided that the risk of holding
out any longer was too great and accepted what the Yankees were offering.
The
Yankee Clipper’s return to baseball was quite eventful. He entered his first
regular season game on April 30 in Washington. With two outs in the bottom of
the sixth inning, Taffy Wright of the Senators hit a blooper behind second
base. DiMaggio raced in from center field. Myril Hoag came motoring in from
right field. Rookie Joe Gordon—who had been called up from the championship
Newark squad—ventured far beyond the infield in hot pursuit. All three players
converged on the ball. At the last minute, Hoag made the grab and somehow managed
to avoid crashing into his teammates. But the 6-foot-2, 200 pound DiMaggio
collided with the smaller Gordon, who stood 5-10 and weighed around 180.
DiMaggio sustained a minor bruise on his head and remained in the game. Gordon,
on the other hand, was carted off the field on a stretcher. He was out of
action for a month.
Recounting
the incident, DiMaggio later wrote, “Considering that this was my first game
since I had come to terms with the Yankees, that I was booed for the first time
in my life by fans and that I knocked out our new second sacker halfway through
the game, it might be said that I broke in with a bang!”
Playing
beside the Yankee Clipper could definitely be hazardous at times. In July of
1936, DiMaggio ran into Hoag at full speed while chasing a ball hit by Hall of
Famer Goose Goslin. Though both outfielders initially appeared to have escaped
serious injury, Hoag was found unconscious in his hotel room two days later.
Holes were drilled in his head to relieve inter-cranial pressure and doctors
believed that he would never play ball again. But in an unexpected turn of
events, he successfully rehabbed, returning to the Yankee lineup in April of
1937. He continued to play in the majors through 1945, finishing his career
with the Cleveland Indians.
Gordon
and Hoag were not the only men to incur serious injuries while playing
alongside Joe D. In Mickey Mantle’s rookie year, he shredded his knee while
stopping abruptly to avoid a collision with DiMaggio. Multiple players reported
that Joe had a quiet voice that could not always be clearly heard when he
called for a ball.
No comments:
Post a Comment