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Late in his life, he was a very popular social fixture on the New York scene, hanging out with a lot of luminaries such as Woody Allen, Paul Simon and Henry Kissinger, to name a few. Highly recommended for baseball fans. This is an excellent biography overall. But the picture painted by Richard Ben Cramer is not pretty to look at. Still, it's a great book and a great read. He lost two wives, including Marilyn Monroe, essentially because he was so controlling and domineering. I didn't doubt this picture as presented by the author, but I felt there must be something missing.
That's why I gave this book four stars instead of five -- that feeling that something must be missing. But there was little suggestion in the book that Joe could be charming.
He cut off his son, who later died of a crank overdose, for not living up to his standards. It seemed to me that he must have had a charming side too, or he wouldn't have been so popular.
I got the feeling it was extremely well researched and well written, and I learned a lot about Joe DiMaggio, "the greatest ballplayer who ever lived," as he liked to be called. I found it hard to reconcile Cramer's picture of DiMaggio as, well, a jerk, with the apparent fact that he was a popular social butterfly late in life.
Joltin' Joe was, it appears, a money-grubbing skinflint who expected people to give him everything for free and immediately became suspicious and cut people off as soon as they asked for the smallest thing in return.
Although he managed to patch things up with one of his brothers, Dom, he basically died alone under the effective control of a lawyer who was out to get everything he could from the DiMaggio estate.
Joltin Joe led a fabulous life; it would have been nice if he enjoyed even a day of it.Not to be missed. A simply incredibly well written account of the bittersweet life of one of America's icons. Cannot be put down, both out of pity and contempt for DiMaggio.
We hold our sports heroes to a high standard and they are only human. In 1941 his incredible 56-game hitting streak held the country spellbound. There may be a place for books like this but it's not going to find a home on my shelf.Linda Bulger, 2009 His brief marriage to Marilyn Monroe and their ongoing relationship come in for close scrutiny, mostly unflattering to both.
His career highlights are generally well known; he entered minor league pro ball in 1932 and debuted with the Yankees in 1936. Exhaustive, perhaps definitive, vivid in its play-by-play and full of star-spottings, but an attack nonetheless. Joe DiMaggio. Everyone knows his name; he's a legend, an icon, revered for what he did as a baseball superstar, and also for what he was. In 1949 he was the first player to sign a six-figure contract. Joe DiMaggio : The Hero's Life describes Joe as obsessed with his image, involved with mob figures, faithless to his wives and his friends, a neglectful father, always looking to make a buck on his name, and sometimes violent in his relationships.
I don't ask for a whitewashed biography but this book feels like a poorly-substantiated attack. The tawdry family and business details of his later years and especially the cold reality of his final illness and his death in 1999 are the stuff of tabloids.I listened to the audio version and as usual missed out on any charts, pictures, and particularly notes and bibliography. "Joe had to look around to find anybody he knew, a real Yankee, one of his guys. and then there was Joe." The book establishes its negative tone early and often.If this is the man, so be it; his sports achievements are not challenged nor can they ever be. He retired from baseball after the 1951 season and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1955. The only player from before the war was the shortstop, Phil Rizzuto, everyone else was new. Joltin' Joe; the Yankee Clipper.Joe was the son of Italian immigrants, born and raised in California.
It's not apparent to me that Cramer's sources are adequately documented, and for such an unflattering biography, sterling attributions are a must.My main objection to the book is the odd, almost jeering style of writing, seemingly meant to mimic the point of view of the character being written about. Author Richard Ben Cramer turns a bright and unflattering light on his private life. He batted after the legendary Lou Gehrig and led the club to 9 World Series wins. At the end of his career the Yankee torch was passed to Mickey Mantle.Those are the baseball facts, but what about the man.
But this author does not see fit to use pejorative terms for other ethnic groups when he writes about Latino, Black and Jewish players: he never refers to sp**s, ni**ers, or k**es, but he feels free to use slurs for Italian-Americans over a 48 times before page 377 in a 515 page book. Baldassaro is commenting on the racism and prejudice presented by sports writers towards Italian-Americans over 60 and 70 years ago, the author of 'The Hero's Life" seems to forget that he is writing now, in the new millenium, in a much more enlightened and politically correct time, when racism and ethnic pejoratives are frowned upon and not used lightly. While a few sports websites note that some of DiMaggio's teammates referred to him in this way for a time, the book seems to infer that everyone, everywhere, easily used and still use these terms without any attempt to balance or explain this biased presentation. These epithets show up every few pages, with some pages, like p-266, using it 3 times.
I can not in any way, shape or form recommend this book to anyone to buy because of the author's intense use of the word 'D*go'. Even thinking of these terms in a censored manner is disturbing to me and I can't bring myself to fully print pejoratives for other ethnic groups even to make a point. Readers know that racism existed at the start of Dimaggio's career, not just towards Italians and Italian-Americans, but as suffered and fought by the multitude of talented Black and Latino players throughout the sport's history. The Amazon review guidelines limits obscene or distasteful content so I will censor this review, but in my personal opinion, the use of these terms in this book is very distasteful.
This writing goes beyond the device of "quoting" dialogue and attributing sayings to specific people, repeatedly and unnecessarily using the terms "da**" and "w**". I am quite shocked that Cramer's editors didn't feel the need to reign in his excessive and unwarranted use of these terms, and their use in this book completely overshadows any other facets of it. (NOTE: I rate this book no stars because of this, but the system won't recognize that, hence the one star in the rating).Lawrence Baldassaro writes in his book on Italian-American atheletes in the 1930's and 1940's that "Such language is inconceivable today, yet.in 1938 such terms as "w*p" and "d**o".routinely appeared in coverage of Italian American ballplayers." Baldassaro notes that in the 1930's and 1940's "Stories that claimed to celebrate the sudden surge of Italian players were.written in a style that was at once patronizing and slightly derogatory.praise mingled easily with a barely masked smirk that was betrayed frequently by stereotypical depictions." While Mr. Cramer's writing seems lost in time, seeming to revel in the use of the words "D*go" and "D**g".
His brothers Dom & Joe also were talented and played at the Major League level. His research into the career and the mindset of Joe DiMaggio is outstanding. But his life is one of a taker. Louis Browns this would not have happened.DiMaggio was a loner. While it is true that Joe DiMaggio had great talent and grace on the baseball field there can be no doubt. Ben Cramer I give 5 Stars. He deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. One would say Joe was the catalyst for this.
Hence my rating of 3 Stars.We learn of Joe's meager childhood and later his talent to play the game of baseball. To Mr. Toots Shorr, Walter Winchell et al. He never would sustain a marital relationship. If Joe played for the St.
I really don't think so. He was not the best ever. Sorry Joe, my take is not of Simon & Garfunkle. Joe DiMaggio was a great player. It is true that Joe's exploits as a right handed hitter are great. His marriage to Marilyn Monroe was really just a sexual escapade. No Problem.
He really sought his worldly pleasures through well connected people who catered to him. He played on 9 World Championship teams. His personal life and treatment of people give the Old Yankee Clipper a rating of 2 Stars. He was always surrounded with the best players of his age.
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