Stats and Musings on Joe DiMaggio
by Travis G on Jan 31, 2012 11:00 AM EST
in New York Yankees Analysis
Email
PrintYankee Stadium hurt Joe DiMaggio. We often think of how it helped lefty hitters like Babe Ruth ("The House That Ruth Built/Built For Ruth"), but there were also victims of it.
What would DiMag have done if he didn't miss three years in his prime (ages 28-30) to World War II and played half his games facing Yankee Stadium's Death Valley (457 feet to left-center in his day)?
It's tricky business to say what someone would have done, but we can take a stab at it by presuming he would put up numbers similar to those in his three years before the war. In his three years prior to 1943, he OPS'ed .997 (168 OPS+) and averaged 27 homers per year.*
* That he came back after three years and OPS'ed+ 142 is amazing. What a supreme talent.
So if he hit 81 home runs during that time (27 x 3), it would bring his career total to 442, extremely impressive for a right-handed contact hitter in Yankee Stadium.
He was also a significantly better hitter on the road, with an OPS .077 higher to be exact, mostly in the power department. He clubbed 65 more homers on the road over his 13 years. If we make another presumption - that he would've benefited from playing in another ballpark - he easily could've finished with more than 500 homers.
While the Ruths and Berras of the world benefited from Yankee Stadium, it hurt (or used to before "Death Valley" dropped under 400 ft.) right-handed batters.
One also has to think about the most famous trade that never happened: The proposed swap of Ted Williams for DiMaggio in early 1947. It apparently would have happened (each player was better suited to the other's park), but then Tom Yawkey, Boston's owner, changed his stance in the morning and wanted New York's "little left fielder" (Yogi Berra) as well. That was too much for the Yanks who then refused the deal. But one has to wonder how DiMaggio would have fared in Boston (and Williams in New York) and how baseball history would have differed.
[If you're wondering if Yankee Stadium helped Lou Gehrig, it didn't. He hit better on the road.]
26 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
In his autobiography, Williams mentions the possible trade
But also noted that he didn’t really like hitting in Yankee Stadium, even though he was a dead pull hitter. Something about the haze/background, IIRC.
I highly recommend his book (My Turn At Bat) as a wintertime baseball read. He’s cantankerous and opinionated, as you might expect, but he loved the game.
I believe that Yankee Stadium back then allowed people to sit directly behind center field (where the black seats/restaurant is today). Picking that white baseball up against a moving background with multiple colors cannot be easy.
Baseball players are smarter than football players. How often do you see a baseball team penalized for too many men on the field? ~Jim Bouton
by LaserVortex888 on Jan 31, 2012 3:26 PM EST up reply actions
Although there were seats in centerfield at the time, if you look at attendance figures, you would see that they would usually have been empty.
Yankee Stadium had about 72,000 seats. I don’t think they came anywhere near 2,000,000 for a season until the remodeled Stadium of 1976 was built. In a 154 game season, with 77 home games, the team would have had to average over 19,000 fans per game to get to 1.5 million. That leaves about 50,000 empty seats for most games.
by designatedquitter on Feb 1, 2012 12:25 PM EST up reply actions
It would have been interesting just to see DiMaggio hit in today's Yankee Stadium.
1937 YS Dimensions: 301-457-461-407-296
2009 YS Dimensions: 318-399-408-385-314
I know the era was entirely different because it was just a bunch of white dudes, not integrated like today, but still… How many of those long fly balls DiMaggio hit to left-center fell short despite being hit 450 feet? Ridiculous.
"Don't you think it's strange that you'll make more money than President Hoover this year?"
"Why not? I had a better year than he did." - G.H. Ruth
how did Ted Williams hit at Yankee Stadium?
by long time listener on Jan 31, 2012 11:27 AM EST reply actions
.309/.484/.543
639 PA’s, they walked him 161 times! He hit 30 homers in 475 AB’s. Here’s b-ref link for the rest of the numbers.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?id=willite01&year=Career&t=b
Romine!
Everyone walked him.
Even with all the seasons he missed, he had 2021 career walks. However, the bulk of his walks (1124), came in the years 1941-42, 1946-51, when the Red Sox had competitive teams and other solid hitters. They won over 90 games in five of those eight years.
Mickey C
In a Ted Williams special I watched on HBO they made it seem like the proposed trade was a result of a long night at a bar and when the parties sobered up, clearer heads prevailed.
by MichaelGGBGrabow on Jan 31, 2012 12:04 PM EST reply actions
that's what I've heard too
Incidentally, that’s also how Soriano got his contract.
by long time listener on Jan 31, 2012 12:07 PM EST up reply actions
Ha! His agent was secretly drinking water round after round until he was finally able to hold a pen in Hank’s hand without him waking up.
by MichaelGGBGrabow on Jan 31, 2012 12:25 PM EST up reply actions
except for the part about cooler heads prevailing after they sobered up
Hank had such a bad hangover that he wouldn’t let Cashman near him the next morning. That and he was worshiping the porcelain god for a week following!
Joe D lost homeruns
in Death Valley to be sure. I never got to see the man play but I did see The Mick lose quite a few. Perhaps it was balanced by the right field ‘porch’, but he sure lost some in the power alleys. It was a pretty good poke to right center, as well. Ted Williams did have the Pesky Pole as a dead pull hitter, but he too lost considerable playing time to military service (twice). 40 plus homers a year during that time would place him on a different level all together.
I wonder how Williams would have dealt with the New York press if 'The Trade' had happened.
My guess is that it would not have been pretty. Williams despised the Boston press corps, and the New York press is much larger. Add in the ‘DiMaggio would have caught that ball’ articles, and extrapolate from there. On the other hand, Williams was such a good hitter, he might have hit .400 every year out of pure spite.
by designatedquitter on Jan 31, 2012 3:02 PM EST reply actions
Remember, Mantle & Dimaggio played in the era of the dead ball, elevated mound, and uncorked bats.
Skowron and Ford interviewed on WFAN said that Mantlew playing in Atlanta (The Launching Pad) would have had 60 HRS by the All Star break. No mention of what Matnle would have done in Coor’s Stadium, Minnesota, or Toronto.
By the way, 3B Clete Boyer and 2B Davey johnson never his HRs like they did When traded to Atlanta-I believe 40 HRs each.
The 1940's and 1950's are not the "dead ball" era that was pre-1920 baseball
And there’s no telling what they did with their bats.
You are correct that the mound had not yet been lowered (that happened in 1969).
DiMaggio also lost a year at the beginning of his career
because when the San Francisco Seals agreed to sell him to the Yankees in November, 1934, part of the agreement was that he would play for the Seals in 1935. So he made his major league debut in 1936.
An odd statistic for those who like odd statistics: DiMaggio hit 361 home runs in his career but only struck out 369 times. By comparison Ted Williams, who was noted for his eye, hit 521 HRs and struck out 709 times.
Mickey C
For what it's worth- reread Jane Leavy's book on Mickey Mantle, and the way DiMaggio treated him.
Not to his credit, to put it mildly.
by designatedquitter on Feb 1, 2012 12:27 PM EST reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
In Association With
Big League Stew - MLB - Yahoo! Sports
- College player makes impossible over the fence catch to save tournament game (Video)
- Security!: Camden Yards guard collides with Royals’ Mike Moustakas
- The Juice: Nelson Cruz matches career high eight RBIs, Pujols stays hot in Seattle
- Benches clear at Fenway as Red Sox-Rays rivalry heats up
- Keeping good company: Albert Pujols becomes fourth-youngest player to hit 450 home runs
