Joe DiMaggio At 100

It’s not often that we at Yanks Go Yard get a chance to celebrate the 100th birthday of a Yankees legend. Joe DiMaggio isn’t just a Yankees’ legend, but one of the all-time greats, regardless of what John Thorn at MLB.com now thinks. Joe D may not have been the greatest center fielder the game has ever known, but he is certainly among the top five. Today, rather than focusing on one specific accomplishment of the Yankee Clipper, we just want to say Happy 100th Birthday Joltin’ Joe! 

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The three-time AL MVP and 13-time All-Star not only took the mantle from the Iron Horse, Lou Gehrig, he carried himself with the dignity and grace that set the tone for all Yankees that came later on, and it can be seen through the team’s most recent captain, Derek Jeter. Prior to the ‘Steroid Era’, or the ‘Expansion Era’ or any other era, Joe D ranked fifth all-time in home runs, and sixth in slugging percentage at the time of his retirement. While time my move DiMaggio down the list statistically, his impact and lasting impression on the game, is something no Yankees fan, or baseball fan, will soon forget or discredit.

DiMaggio was a member of nine Yankees World Series championship teams during his 13-year run in pinstripes. He was at one point, voted the game’s greatest living player. Of course there is the hitting streak. Who could forget 56 straight games in 1941? It could be professional sports’ most unbreakable record. No steroids, no enhancements, no evolution of athletic ability can challenge the greatest of DiMaggio that summer. He served his country, leaving the glory and accolades of Yankee stardom behind for a couple of years, but when he returned, he was the same Joe D everyone had remembered.

He set the stage for the next great Yankees’ center fielder, Mickey Mantle, who took over for DiMaggio upon the Yankee Clipper’s retirement at the end of the 1951 season. He later became “Mr. Coffee” for his television advertising. He assisted the Oakland A’s in his retirement years, and made multiple appearances at Old Timer’s Day at the Stadium. DiMaggio has been gone over 15 years now, but his lasting memory of #5 is not far from the imagination.

From Yankees fans everywhere, and from the entire staff at Yanks Go Yard, Happy 100th Birthday Joe D!