Joe Dimaggio: A Biography

Way better than you'd probably expect of a sports biography, especially from the era when this was written (1956). Good account of DiMaggio's early history and family background, very good blow-by-blow of the 56-game hitting streak. Vivid accounts of Joe's sufferings from injuries and dramatic comebacks from them. There are many direct quotes from players, including Joe -- not commentaries on events and controversies (as we'd get today), but just routine things that they said while just hanging out. The book has some quaint faults that are expectable in a sports book from that era. At times, meaningless details are mentioned as though they were important and of interest just because they pertain to baseball heroes; for example, we learn that Bill Dickey ordered tea and toast for breakfast. And sometimes the writer seems to believe that the main element of interest about an event was the question of what the newspaper writers would say ("scribes," he calls them). But, the book has an overall grace and dignity befitting its subject. Overall, worthwhile and even somewhat revealing. I first read this book as a child, and it was somewhat responsible for my becoming hooked on baseball and its history.