Vincent Paul DiMaggio (September 6, 1912 – October 3, 1986) was an American

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the ...

. During a 10-year baseball career, he played for the Boston Bees (1937–1938),

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

(1939–1940),

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

(1940–1945),

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

(1945–1946), and

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

(1946). DiMaggio was the oldest brother of Joe and

Dom DiMaggio Dominic Paul DiMaggio (February 12, 1917 – May 8, 2009), nicknamed "The Little Professor", was an American Major League Baseball center fielder. He played his entire 11-year baseball career for the Boston Red Sox (1940–1953). DiMaggio w ...

Early life

DiMaggio was born in Martinez, California, and grew up in

North Beach, San Francisco North Beach is a neighborhood in the northeast of San Francisco adjacent to Chinatown, the Financial District, and Russian Hill. The neighborhood is San Francisco's " Little Italy" and has historically been home to a large Italian American p ...

. Older than Joe and Dom, Vince was discovered first, and the teenage Joe used to enviously watch him play professional ball. Blessed with some power and good fielding, Vince once claimed that he could run rings around Joe in the outfield.

Career

Minor leagues (1932–1936)

DiMaggio began his professional career in 1932 with the Tucson Lizards of the Class-D Arizona–Texas League, hitting .347 with 25 homers and 81 RBI. He led the Arizona–Texas League in home runs, with eight more than runner-up Cal Lahman. He played 94

games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (suc ...

with the Lizards that year, finishing the season with the San Francisco Seals of the Class-AA

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Ba ...

. With the Seals, he

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

.270 with 6 home runs in 59 games. In 1933, DiMaggio hit .333 with 11 home runs and 65

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the b ...

for San Francisco and the Hollywood Stars. He played with the Stars through 1935, joining the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penn ...

in 1936.

Major League Baseball

On December 4, 1936, DiMaggio was traded by San Diego of the PCL to the Boston Bees for

Tiny Chaplin James Bailey Chaplin (July 13, 1905 – March 25, 1939), nicknamed Tiny Chaplin, was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher. He played four seasons with the New York Giants (1928, 19 ...

, Tommy Thompson and cash. DiMaggio was a regular outfielder for the Bees in

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into ...

and

1938 Events January * January 1 ** The new constitution of Estonia enters into force, which many consider to be the ending of the Era of Silence and the authoritarian regime. ** State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France ...

. In 1937, he hit .256 with a .311

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

and .387

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

with 13 home runs. In 1938, DiMaggio hit only .228/.313/.369, but led the Bees with 14 home runs on a team that hit 54 home runs in total. He was tenth in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

(NL) in homers, sixth in steals (11) and eighth in walks (65). In both 1937 and 1938, he led the NL in

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is den ...

s. His 134 strikeouts in 1938 set a NL record for most strikeouts in one season, breaking Gus Williams' record of 120 set in 1914. On February 4, 1939, the Boston Bees sent DiMaggio to the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...

to complete an earlier deal made on August 10, 1938, where the Bees sent

players to be named later In Major League Baseball, a player to be named later (PTBNL) is an unnamed player involved in exchange or " trade" of players between teams. The terms of a trade are not finalized until a later date, most often following the conclusion of the sea ...

, Gil English,

Johnny Riddle John Ludy Riddle (October 3, 1905 – December 15, 1998) was an American professional baseball player and coach. He appeared in 98 games in Major League Baseball as a reserve catcher for the Chicago White Sox (1930), Washington Senators (1937), ...

and cash to the Yankees for Eddie Miller. DiMaggio did not play for the Yankees, as they assigned him to their

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

affiliate, the Kansas City Blues. On August 5, 1939, DiMaggio was traded by the Yankees to the

for players to be named later and $40,000. The Reds sent

Frenchy Bordagaray Stanley George "Frenchy" Bordagaray (January 3, 1910 – April 13, 2000) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder and third baseman for the Chicago White Sox, Brooklyn Dodgers, ...

and Nino Bongiovanni to the Yankees on January 27, 1940, to complete the trade. DiMaggio appeared in eight games with the 1939 Reds and only two games for the 1940 Reds before the Reds traded DiMaggio to the

for Johnny Rizzo on May 8, 1940. DiMaggio spent the majority of his MLB career with the Pirates. In between, he was selected to the All-Star Game in 1943 and 1944. In the 1943 game, DiMaggio collected a home run, triple, single, a pair of runs and one RBI over three

at-bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

s. On March 31, 1945, he was traded by the Pirates to the

for Al Gerheauser. He then hit four grand slams for the Phillies. On May 1, 1946, he was traded by the Phillies to the

for Clyde Kluttz. In his ten-year MLB career, DiMaggio batted .249 with 125 home runs and 584 RBI in 1110 games.

Return to the minors

DiMaggio played for the

Oakland Oaks Oakland Oaks may refer to one of the following sport teams, listed chronologically: * Oakland Oaks (PCL), a minor league baseball team that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903 to 1955 *Oakland Oaks (ice hockey), a professional ice hockey t ...

of the PCL in 1947. In 1948, he moved to the

Stockton Ports The Stockton Ports are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. They are located in Stockton, California, and are named for the city's seaport. The team plays its home games at ...

of the

California League The California League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in California. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following Major L ...

as a player-manager. He also played for and managed the

Pittsburg Diamonds The Pittsburg Diamonds were an independent professional baseball team based in Pittsburg, California. Originally named the Pittsburg Mettle, the club changed their name to the Diamonds in 2015. History The Pittsburg Mettle began play as a me ...

of the Class-D Far West League from 1949 through 1951. He finished the 1951 season, and his professional career, with the Tacoma Tigers of the Class-B Western International League.

Personal life

DiMaggio was married with two children, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He died in

North Hollywood, California North Hollywood is a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, the El Portal Theatre, several art galleries, and the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences. The Nor ...

, at age 74 of

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowe ...

. DiMaggio worked at the California Shipbuilding Corporation during World War II. "He's one of the many former athletic stars who are helping to smash the Axis by building the equipment needed by America's fighting men," according to the Library of Congress. According to Joe DiMaggio biographer Richard Ben Cramer, the iconic younger brother "didn't deal with Vince at all", never maintaining any meaningful relationship with him. But earlier in his career, DiMaggio had also joked that "If I could hit like Joe and he could talk like me, we'd make a helluva guy."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dimaggio, Vince 1912 births 1986 deaths People from Martinez, California Sportspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area American sportspeople of Italian descent Baseball players from California Boston Bees players Cincinnati Reds players Deaths from cancer in California Deaths from colorectal cancer Hollywood Stars players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players Major League Baseball center fielders National League All-Stars New York Giants (NL) players Oakland Oaks (baseball) players Philadelphia Phillies players Pittsburgh Pirates players San Diego Padres (minor league) players San Francisco Seals (baseball) players Stockton Ports players Tacoma Tigers players Tucson Lizards players Baseball players of Italian descent