Red Sox Diaries

When compiling a list of the best leadoff hitters of all time, certain names come up right away. Rickey Henderson. Tim Raines. Pete Rose. Lou Brock. Paul Molitor. Richie Ashburn. Probably Craig Biggio and Ichiro Suzuki from the modern era. Cleveland fans might push for Brett Butler and Kenny Lofton to be included, too.

One of the most underrated table setters in baseball history, Dom DiMaggio died early Friday morning at the age of 92. The younger brother of Vince and Joe played in the majors for 11 years, all with the Boston Red Sox. A seven-time All Star, DiMaggio looked nothing like the typical ballplayer, standing just 5-foot-9 and wearing glasses when he played -- hence his very appropriate nickname, "The Little Professor." But no discussion of top leadoff men is complete without him.

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DiMaggio made his major league debut with the Red Sox in 1940 after they purchased his contract from the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League (the same place both of his brothers got their starts). The 23-year-old became the everyday center fielder for shortstop/manager Joe Cronin's club and was penciled in at the top of a lineup that included Hall of Famers Cronin, Ted Williams and Jimmie Foxx. DiMaggio's job was to get on so the sluggers had someone to drive in, and he did not disappoint, finishing with a .301 batting average and the third-best on-base percentage on the team. He also showed off some power to the gaps, stroking 32 doubles and eight triples (to go with eight home runs) in 418 at-bats.

Boston came in second during each of the next two seasons, and DiMaggio continued to be a reliable contributor. After slugging a career-high 14 homers in 1942, he spent the next three years fighting in World War II, sacrificing three seasons. He came back to help the Red Sox win the 1946 American League pennant and almost beat the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. In the top of the eighth inning of Game 7, DiMaggio injured his hamstring legging out a double that tied the score at 3. As a result, he was on the bench when outfielder Enos Slaughter scored from first on a hit to left-center for the game-winning run. Regarded as a top-notch defender for both his range and his arm, DiMaggio always insisted that Slaughter would not have scored had he been out in the field.

He was also the sparkplug for some explosive Boston offenses. DiMaggio scored more than 125 runs in three straight years from 1948 to 1950 for teams that averaged 95 wins and 943 runs but never managed to finish first. Two more solid seasons followed before DiMaggio retired in May of 1953 at age 36. Manager Lou Boudreau decided DiMaggio was no longer capable of being an effective starter, and DiMaggio did not want to hang around as a reserve. (The guy who Boudreau preferred? Career .246 hitter Tom Umphlett, who was traded in the offseason and lasted only two more years. No wonder that, until Boudreau became Boston's skipper in 1952, DiMaggio had never played on a losing team.)

The only time DiMaggio has been in the spotlight since his playing days was when he fell short in his bid to buy the Red Sox (along with other investors) after longtime owner Tom Yawkey died in 1977.

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The war cost DiMaggio a big part of his prime, as it for did many players. Because of that, his career totals are misleadingly low. Between that and his far more famous brother Joe's shadow, Dom has been perpetually overlooked. Fact is, he was one of baseball's first great leadoff hitters. The modern statistical revolution has made it much easier to appreciate everything DiMaggio brought to the table.

First of all, the guy never had a bad season and was remarkably consistent -- his adjusted OPS was always above league average, somewhere between 102 and 123. His career OBP was .386, which is excellent for a top-of-the-lineup hitter. He also had fewer strikeouts than walks every season except for his first and last ones. Overall, he fanned just once per 11.4 plate appearances. (Not as impressive as Joltin' Joe's incredible mark of one strikeout for every 20.8 PAs ... see what Dom's problem was? It also makes you wonder whether Vince, who led the league in Ks six times, was actually related to his two younger brothers.)

Another big reason why he tends to be left out of conversations about the best table setters is his small stolen base total. The prototypical leadoff man has blazing speed, and DiMaggio stole just 100 bases in his 10 full seasons. The issue was not that DiMaggio wasn't fast -- he averaged almost six triples per year -- but that nobody was taking extra bases during that time period. Stealing was not emphasized. One season, DiMaggio actually led the AL in swipes -- with 15. He was also 33 that year.

Compare DiMaggio to some of the players I mentioned at the beginning of the post. His career 111 OPS+ is equal or superior to that of Brock, Ashburn, Butler, Lofton and Biggio -- half of the initial 10.

Last fall, the Baseball Hall of Fame's Veterans' Committee voted to induct the late Joe Gordon, a second basemen for the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians during DiMaggio's era. Gordon also lost significant time to World War II, albeit one season less than DiMaggio did, and the Committee surely took that into account.

Now, I'm not trying to turn this into a campaign to put Dom DiMaggio in the Hall. But he was a lot better than most fans remember him to be (if they remember him at all). Current Red Sox center fielder and leadoff hitter Jacoby Ellsbury is definitely an exciting and promising player. Though personally, if given the choice between him and DiMaggio, I'd take "The Little Professor" in a heartbeat.

--Danny Daly (ddaly06)

Red Sox Diaries would also like to wish Jerry Remy a full and speedy recovery after his lung cancer surgery. It's not the same without him in the booth calling Red Sox games.