Just how good was Joe Dimaggio? This is the great unanswered baseball question for me. Of the all the athletes that I know, Dimaggio is one with the greatest mystique. The mystique of Joe D is so thick you can cut it with a knife.
My theory is that Dimaggio is overrated. He had the good fortune of playing in New York where the sportswriters of that city lauded him beyond all reason. The Great Dimaggio. It never ends. Hemingway mentions him in "The Old Man and the Sea." Paul Simon immortalizes him in "Mrs. Robinson." John Fogerty mentions him in his classic baseball song "Centerfield." Analysis has no chance against the Dimaggio mystique.
Roger Kahn asks, "How much of his reputation is image and hype?" Kahn doesn't directly answer the question, but he does point to the evidence for the hype.
In the end, the swooning over Dimaggio is something I will never understand. Great ballplayer, sure, but not the godlike figure he is made out to be.
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