The Triumphant Red Sox Blog

If you have read the late David Halberstam's The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship, you know that from the Red Sox teams of the 1940's emerged a quartet of players who, despite their many differences, forged a friendship that would last all their lives. Bobby Doerr got to the Red Sox first, in 1937, and was perhaps the most mild-mannered. Ted Williams was the last to retire, in 1960, and the most volatile. Johnny Pesky (né Paveskovich) was the youngest, the last of the group to join the team, and the only one who didn't play his entire career with the Red Sox. Dominic DiMaggio was the oldest and the only one who left baseball entirely after his playing days were over.

The men met through the Red Sox and remained a foursome of dear friends until the 2002 death of Williams. And early this morning, DiMaggio became the second of the teammates to die.

I had the pleasure of interviewing DiMaggio in 1996 while working in television production. Among the topics we discussed was the Hall of Fame, in which his friends Williams and Doerr were enshrined. Many (including Williams) believed that DiMaggio deserved to be in the Hall as well, and probably would be if his career hadn't been overshadowed by that of his older brother, Joe. So I asked him if he thought the Veterans Committee would ever select him. His straightforward response, delivered without so much as a chuckle, was that he didn't know, but if they did, he hoped it would be before he died so he could enjoy it. (It was a better question that what my mother wanted me to ask him, which was, "What was it like being Marilyn Monroe's brother-in-law?") When Williams, who sat on the Veterans Committee, passed, so probably did The Little Professor's shot.

Now, after 92 years of living, Dom DiMaggio follows Ted Williams into our memories, but without having received the accolades that his three friends got — Williams and Doerr with plaques in Cooperstown, Pesky joining the other two with his uniform number retired). DiMaggio was one of the inaugural members of the Red Sox' team Hall of Fame, but it doesn't seem quite enough.

The Veterans Committee should give serious consideration to admitting DiMaggio, who meets their criteria. Fans can submit their input via the Hall of Fame web site or to the Hall of Fame Veterans Committee, 25 Main Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326. But regardless of what they do, the Red Sox, having dispensed with their erstwhile rule that only players enshrined in Cooperstown could have their numbers retired, should afford the honor posthumously to DiMaggio and retired number 7.

Ask Bobby Doerr and Johnny Pesky, the two surviving teammates. They'll agree.

Labels: history, memorials