"An event for which all baseball fans had been hopeful was finally formalized last January ... it was officially announced that Joe DiMaggio had been elected to his proper niche in Cooperstown ... Baseball's Hall of Fame.
If ever a player were marked for those laurels from his career's beginning, it had to be DiMag. In his first three seasons of professional ball, his lowest batting average was .340; his first four seasons with the Yankees were all World Series triumphs the team and for Joe. He was named the league's Most Valuable Player in three separate years, 1939, 1941,1947. His record of 56 consecutive games in which he safely is one that is very unlikely to be approached, let alone broken.
Outstanding in the accomplishments of the gifted Californian were two great climaxes at the late stages of his baseball career. Following an injury that had had him miss over one-third of the 1949 season, he came back to the line-up to lead the club to a pennant and the first in their string of five consecutive World Championships. One year later, in a streak of hitting for an average of .373, he again engineered a pennant triumph for the Yankees.
In the winter of 1951 the New York baseball writers selected an All-Time Yankee team. It is a tribute to them and to Joe DiMaggio that he was named as the centerfielder on this dream team on every ballot cast.
It is fitting that he should now have his feats marked for their proper recognition by entering the Hall of Fame."
-The New York Yankees Official 1955 Yearbook
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