WHEN THE BODY TALKS BACK
"Joe DiMaggio, one of the few athletes who when to quit, tells how a ball player knows his youth is speedily leaving him.
'It's like this,' Joe said, 'you're chasing a ball and a brain sends out commands to your body.
''Run forward,' your brain says.
'Then, 'Bend!' ... 'Scoop up the ball!' ... 'Peg it to the infield!' ... '
'Yes and then what?' asked one of DiMaggio's listeners.
'Then,' replied Joe, 'your body says, 'Who me?' And you know you haven't got it anymore.' "
-Al Abrams, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Baseball Digest, November-December 1956)
SPIKE'S PIQUE
"It was over at St. Petersburg, where the Yankees trained, and a fellow still in baseball said: 'Don't use stories about me until I retire, but let me give you one about Joe DiMaggio. Now, Joe could be rough when he wanted.
'Like in the World Series, the first year the Yanks saw Jackie Robinson. Jackie was running into second- he was a great competitor and Phil Rizzuto was covering. They met head-on and Rizzuto was knocked out. Well, they were taking news photos and developing 'em right in the park. Pretty soon a photographer sent DiMaggio a picture of the play- it showed Robinson's fist right in Rizzuto's stomach.
'Well, Robinson was playing first base in those days, and he made the mistake of trying to cover the next time DiMaggio was running. DiMaggio crunched squarely on Robinson's foot, and everywhere Joe's shoe had a spike, Robinson had a spike wound. I'll say this about Robinson; he never beefed. Jackie knew why he'd gotten it.' "
-David Condon, Chicago Tribune (Baseball Digest, May 1957)
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