Yankee Clipper Is Still Fighting

While baseball’s winter meetings were beginning here Friday, Joe DiMaggio, one of the sport’s icons, continued his valiant fight in a Florida hospital, slipping into and then out of a coma as his family conducted a bedside vigil and his doctor expressed amazement at his resiliency.

“You won’t believe it, but he’s awake, moving his head, grabbing my hand and squeezing it,” Dr. Earl Barron said after DiMaggio woke from an 18-hour coma. “It’s completely unexpected. The coma that was present deeply this morning is just not there now.

“But it’s still a very dire situation. The whole thing could change in 15 minutes.”

On a scale of zero to 10, with 10 being the best outlook, Barron said DiMaggio, 84, was at 0.5 in the morning and had improved to a 1 by midday.

DiMaggio’s family--including his brother, Dom; grandchildren Kathy and Paula; and longtime friend and lawyer, Morris Engelberg--had been summoned to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Fla., Friday morning.

“We’re near the end,” Engelberg said. “It’s a question of hours or perhaps days.”

The family had not decided whether to sign a “do not resuscitate” order, which Barron said would allow DiMaggio to die with a “measure of dignity.”

Should his heart stop, the order would mean that no efforts would be taken to restart it, Barron said. He added that a DNR would not mean removal of the respirator that has helped DiMaggio breathe since his Oct. 14 surgery for lung cancer.

“If he were taken off life support--off the respirator--I don’t think he would survive more than a half-hour,” Barron said, adding that DiMaggio has stopped responding to antibiotics for an “overwhelming” lung infection.

DiMaggio had entered the hospital Oct. 12 and had a cancerous tumor removed from his right lung two days later. Since the surgery, DiMaggio has had serious setbacks and stunning improvements--his doctor characterized it last week as “two steps forward and one back.”

The former New York Yankee great played in 11 All-Star games and 10 World Series in 13 seasons with the New York Yankees.

He was a two-time American League batting champion and a three-time most valuable player. His 56-game hitting streak in 1941 remains one of the sport’s most celebrated records.

His last public appearance was Sept. 27, when he was honored at Yankee Stadium and received replicas of nine championship rings that were stolen from his hotel room three decades ago.

The Yankees had wanted him to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the World Series, but he had already been hospitalized.

“I’m sure he would want his fans to know that he would certainly love to recover,” Barron said, stating the obvious, “but I’m not certain that that’s going to happen.”