His pictures remind me of a big, fun loving kid. Well, I was a kid when he was playing ball. Here is a picture of him:
And another picture. Was this one an old baseball card?
I am sure you all remember that Joe married Marilyn Monroe. That was a very publicized affair but it sure didn't last long, only about a year.
My grandma was quite a baseball fan and always listened to the games when they were on radio. She was a Pittsburgh Pirates fan. I have never been interested in watching baseball on TV, since to me, it is a slow, drawn out affair, unlike football or basketball or hockey or. . . . but when I was a kid back in the '50s, I got to go to a Pirates game. My Dad worked for H.J. Heinz Co. and they had a box right at first base. So my Dad would take customers to the baseball game now and then. Once, one guy couldn't make it, so I got to go along. I could reach over the fence and touch the grass on Forbes Field.
Oh to be a kid again. . . oh yes, that's right, I am plenty old enough to go through my second childhood. . . if only, I wish. Now, you all have a great day, you hear?
Seems I remember that nickname, too... but all I can come up with is "Joltin' Joe".... ? Kind of fun reading about an old hero again.
ReplyDelete"Back in the day", I never heard him referred to as "Joltin' Joe". Jump'n Joe, I remember.
DeleteAs soon as I saw the title of your post I thought "Yeah, old Jumpin' Joe". That's what they called him.
ReplyDeleteAs a teenager I sometimes went with friends to watch the Cincinnati Reds play at old Crosley Field. We would sit as close to 3rd base as we could and pray that Ted Kluzewski would stop there. Wow, the muscles on that guy were so huge he had to cut the sleeves off his uniform shirt! Baseball just isn't the same in the stadiums they build now, and I no longer have any interest in the game.
On 2nd thought Ted WAS the 3rd baseman, I believe. Sometimes he would be on 3rd base waiting to run home.
DeleteI am glad you also remember that nick name for him. I guess history dropped it for some reason or another. I also remember Clemente and Dick Stuart.
DeleteThink you're thinking of jumpin joe flash, lol.
ReplyDeleteHe was so ugly never could imagine someone like MM marrying him,,, lol
Some beautiful women prefer ugly men, especially if they have money or fame.
DeleteDD,
ReplyDeleteThere may have been a time when DiMaggio was commonly called Jumpin Joe but probably not after 1941 when Les Brown & His Band of Renown's "Joltin' Joe DiMaggio" was released and became a hit. I think he was Joltin' Joe from that time on in the media.
Since you were born in 1943 the year Joe went into the Army Air Force it likely that you heard him being called Jumpin' Joe by your relatives and their friends.
"Jumping Joe" was the nickname, that stuck, of an earlier Yankee (1922–28) by the name of Joe Dugan.