Of the dozens of players in New York Yankees history that helped make the Bombers the best baseball club of all time, few made the kind of profound cultural impact that Joe DiMaggio did in his heyday.
An All-Star in every season he played from 1936 to 1951, Joltin’ Joe remains one of the greatest players in baseball history, and his career numbers would have been even greater had he not missed three seasons in the middle of his prime to serve in the armed forces during World War II.
DiMaggio helped the Yankees win a stunning nine World Series championships and finished his career with a remarkable .325 lifetime batting average, which ranks 41st all-time.
Along with his 13 All-Star nods, two batting titles, nine rings and one completely unbeatable record, DiMaggio would collect three American League MVPs, the first of which was awarded to him on this day in 1939.
That season saw DiMaggio slash an eye-popping .381/.448/.671 with 32 doubles, 30 home runs, 126 RBI, and 108 runs scored over 120 games. It was Joe’s fourth season in the Majors, his fourth season finishing in the top-eight in MVP voting, and his fourth season finishing the year with a batting average over .320.
That staggering .381 clip was the highest DiMaggio would post in his career, and since 1930, only 12 other players have ever matched a .381 batting average in a single season.
1939 was also an important year for the great Yankees centerfielder as he first earned the nickname “Yankee Clipper” by stadium announcer Arch McDonald, who gave Joe the moniker for his speed and grace in the outfield.
“He never did anything wrong on the field. I'd never seen him dive for a ball, everything was a chest-high catch, and he never walked off the field,” former teammate Yogi Berra once said of DiMaggio.
“Here was an outfielder who followed a fly ball with a deft serenity as though his progress had been plotted by a choreographer concerned only with the defeat of awkwardness," wrote Jimmy Cannon of the N.Y. Journal American.
Baseball fans might never see another player bat .381 across a full season, but the hustle, humility, grace and ferocious drive Joltin’ Joe played with every single game should be an example for all big leaguers to follow even today.
“There’s always some kid who may be seeing me for the first or last time,” DiMaggio once said. “I owe him my best.”
