Joe DiMaggio

Was Mickey Mantle a victim of Joe DiMaggio's treachery?

Many say DiMaggio was directly to blame for Mantle's terrible leg injury. What do you think?

Public Comments

1. the story ive always heard is that mick was going for a flyball and that Joe D called him off, as mickey pulled up he stepped on a sprinkler head busted his knee and the rest is history. i dont think it was planned, how could he know that mickey would step on that exact spot. but i do think he called him off to let him know "hey i still got it kid" and it ended up badly.
2. no frickin way. unless joe dimaggio -- one of the greatest and most respected baseball players of all time -- planted a secret sprinkler into right field and somehow arranged for a ball to be hit in exactly the right spot. dimaggio was at the end of his career anyway when mantle came into play. and if my book memory serves me correct, dimaggio him in high esteem. i wasn't there, though. maybe you know more than i know.
3. No, it wasn't really Joe's fault. Nobody is really at blame. The Mick was going for a flyball because before the game, Casey told him the DiMaggio was slowing down. He was running for it, when he noticed that Joe was already right under the ball. Mantle says "and nobody wants to run into Joe DiMaggio, so I try to stop, and my spikes get caught in the ground, and my knee just, pops out". It's a shame he had the injury. The guy definitely had speed. ** How many stars can be involved in one play? WILLIE MAYS hit a ball to JOE DIMAGGIO while MICKEY MANTLE was injured on the play.
4. Definitely. DiMaggio was to blame for Mantle's knee injury, and later on his alcoholism and his death from liver disease. He also played a bit part in the failure of Mickey's Chicken Restaurant franchises, having gone so far as to share Mickey's secret gravy recipe with Colonel Sanders. He also was responsible for the Bay of Pigs, the Kennedy assassinations (both of them), and the unfortunate success of the Beverly Hillbillies in the 1960's. He was one powerful dude, I tell ya.
5. Precisely how did DiMaggio get Mantle to run straight to the sprinkler head in the first place and then time it so Mantle would hit it just right? There is no possible way Joe D could have done that. I'm sure he was watching the ball and calling for it - not watching where Mickey was and then trying to make Mickey blow out his knee on the sprinkler head. The centerfielder rules the outfield. If the CF calls for a ball, the other fielders give way. Simple as that. And finally...Joe DiMaggio was an Italian in New York in the 50s. If Joe D wanted someone to suffer an unfortunate leg injury, I'm sure he knew people who could arrange an 'accident' away from the field. He certainly wouldn't try to get Mantle to trip on a sprinkler head in the outfield.
6. I've never heard anybody say that it was Joe's fault, not even Mickey. He was quoted in the book "The Mick" as being amazed at the fact Joe was able to reach the ball, moreso than he was angry over the injury. It wasn't really anybody's fault. Joe D camped himself under a fly ball and called the Mick off. He stepped on a sprinkler head. It's baseball basics. Nobody's fault.
7. Interesting question. It was no secret that DiMaggio had a strong dislike of Mantle mainly because of Mantle's life style. They had absolutely no relationship outside of "Old Timers Day". In the beginning Mantle actually idealized DiMaggio but soon learn that Joe was very distance, not only to Mickey but to most everyone else on the team. DiMaggio had a exceptional problem with the fact that he was getting older and that the spurs in his feet were getting very painful. Too much so to play at 100%. Teammates interviewed years later recalled that Joe was very jealous of Mantle because of his incredible talent. He wanted immortality after his playing days were over but saw Mantle as a major threat to that immortality. (This is why in later years DiMaggio always had written in every contract he ever signed for public appearances, "The Greatest Living Player", as voted by the baseball writers association in 1969. There were many version of "The Play" you're talking about. Yes, it involved 3 hall of famers which is common knowledge. Depending on which former teammate was being interviewed, determined which version of the story one received. Most said that Mickey had a bead on the ball and actually called Joe off. However Joe kept coming and invaded Mantle's terriory. At the last second Joe called Mantle off the ball. Mickey pulled up suddenly and just by coinodance, as bad luck would have it, the drainage screen covering a sprinkler head, was right at his feet. Later Joe claimed he did not hear Mantle calling for the ball. It's a statement that Joe never waviered from. The result was terrible for Mickey. We can only imagine how great he might have been if he had played on two good legs. As it is, he didn't do too bad!