Joe DiMaggio

Is it true Joe DiMaggio was so gracefull & fast in centerfield that he never had to dive for a ball?

Do you believe Yogi Berra saying that DiMaggio's instincts were so good & he was so fast & gracefull he was always under the ball & never had to dive to make a catch?

Public Comments

1. I believe it. He wasn't called "The Yankee Clipper" for nothing. And, he claimed his brother Dom was a better center fielder. Bob
2. its definitely believable his other nickname was joltin' joe for his quick bat and speed
3. You could also put a negative spin on it and say that he never dove so he didnt try hard enough to make some plays. I'm not saying that, because I never saw him play. But Joe DiMaggio is always seen in a positive light. If it was someone who is often seen negatively, like Manny Ramirez for example, they would say he didnt try hard enough to make a catch. Who knows how many balls he could have caught had he dove.
4. i tend to not believe that. no matter how hard you run at some point a ball will be just out of your reach. time to dive! especially if you are playing cf and your side outfielders are backing you up. then it is worth it to take a dive whether you reach the ball or not. Di maggio never diving =urban legend
5. Yes I do.
6. I never saw him play, he retired when I was 2 years old, but my Dad told me that other than Willie Mays, there was no greater CF than Joe DiMaggio, and my Dad was a NY Giants fan until they turned their back on New York City and left for CA.
7. Old people tend to glorify the game and enhance some of its players and practices. If you ever heard Bob Feller in an interview, no one today could even play in his era. So, they live in a small vacuum and thing greatness only occurred back in the olden days.
8. I'm sure he dove at least once, lol. But from what I've heard from people who saw him, he made playing cf look effortless. He had a great instinct for positioning himself on the pitch (and had a great pitching staff that could put the ball where it wanted, most times) and had a knack for getting a great jump. Supposedly, you'd see a ball head into the gap and think it was sure extra bases and all of a sudden, DiMaggio would glide infront of it and glove it. BTW - perhaps the most amazing thing about Joltin' Joe is this: 361 Home Runs and only 369 career strike outs. Mark Reynolds has 427 Ks in the past two seasons!!!!
9. I can't believe he NEVER dove, but searching Google images, Google video, and the New York Times archive, I never found a single account of him diving for a ball. I did, however, find this glowing praise of his fielding from game 2 in the 1937 World Series against the New York Giants. "DiMaggio, single-handed, retired the Terry forces in the sixth by hauling down three successive flies, which seems to equal a record which the great DiMage set himself. The fellow is always doing things like this, and without apparently batting an eyelash. He saves all his batting for his appearances at the plate."
10. Agree with zapamania. If it's true that he never dove, then he must have not made some plays that maybe he could've if he did dive. Also agree with the sentiment that the old timers are over-glorified, and it doesn't hurt that he was a Yankee during one of their more successful times - Yankees, no matter how great, are always overrated - witness Joba Chamberlain. I don't mean to take anything away from DiMaggio, though. He was truly exceptional.
11. Joe always positioned himself well in the outfield. He also had great instincts and got a great jump on the ball. He was simply a smart outfielder.
12. He had to dive for some balls. You can't play as long as he did without having to dive for a ball every now and then. You can't let balls just drop in, that would allow the opposition to put more men on base, score more runs, win more games. Even if you position yourself as well as he did, and don't make many mistakes judging balls that are hit your way, you will still need to dive a for a few every now and then. This is one of many famous, funny, but not necessarily accurate remarks from Yogi, his teammate.