Those Who Knew Him Say They’ll Never Forget Him

The name rolls around your tongue like a fine Chianti . . . DiMaggio . . . and, like that Chianti, it only got better with age.

“That is a magic word,” Sparky Anderson, former manager of the Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers, said of Joe DiMaggio, the New York Yankee Hall of Famer who died Monday.

“I remember seeing him in the 1951 World Series, the year he retired, and now it’s 47 years later and he’s still magic. He will always be magic, just like Babe Ruth is magic. Man, if I had a name like that, I could have been someone.”

A nobody, Anderson wasn’t--he guided both the Reds and Tigers to World Series championships--but even he would acknowledge those accomplishments paled in comparison to DiMaggio’s.

Many considered DiMaggio the finest all-around player in baseball history, a talent who combined power and average at the plate, speed, grace and a cannon-like arm in the outfield, and aggression and keen instincts on the basepaths.

The magic and magnetism of DiMaggio were hardly limited to the baseball field, though.

“Like Elvis Presley, Bob Hope, Joe Louis and Babe Ruth, there was just something about him,” Anderson said. “Part of that was the fact he played in New York during the Golden Age for sports, and that he was known as ‘the Yankee Clipper.’

“But he also dressed great, he was a handsome guy, even when his hair went gray, he was so distinguished, so debonair. . . . I bet you, even when he was sick in the hospital, if Joe got dressed and went to a party with the 10 top stars of today, he would get all the attention. That’s how great he was.”

Anderson admired DiMaggio from afar--he met DiMaggio only once, at a baseball writers’ dinner in New York City in 1972, an experience that left Anderson’s knees knocking.

“Someone introduced me to him and I said, ‘Mr. DiMaggio, I’m very nervous,’ ” Anderson said. “He said, ‘Why?’ I said, ‘Because since I was a young man, I’ve heard about you and thought about you, and you were baseball to me. Just being in your presence makes me nervous.’ And DiMaggio said, ‘You are very kind.’ ”

Tom Lasorda, longtime former Dodger manager, knew DiMaggio a little better.

“I was with him in Chicago for three memorable days last year at the Italian-American Hall of Fame for the induction ceremonies there, just before he got sick and went into the hospital,” Lasorda said. “He was a true champion. He was a true Yankee. I idolized him for what he represented, which was class, dignity and character. He was a winner, a champion, a true icon.”

Dodger announcer Vin Scully has his memories of DiMaggio too.

Recalled Scully, “It was the great announcer, Mel Allen, who called him ‘the Yankee Clipper,’ which was a famous sailing ship, because Joe moved like a sailing vessel gliding majestically across the outfield in pursuit of a fly ball. It was a perfect name for him. There was something majestic about him that I don’t think I’ve ever seen with any other player. It was a combination of his ability and the detachment that made him a living monument in center field. That added to his mystery and aura.”

Milwaukee Brewer General Manager Sal Bando got to experience the DiMaggio aura for two years, when Bando was a young infielder for the Oakland Athletics and DiMaggio was the team’s batting instructor in 1968-69.

“He was the most recognized person I’ve ever been around,” Bando said. “We’d come into airports and it didn’t matter what time it was, people would stop and point at him. And that was before he did the Mr. Coffee commercials.”

It wasn’t just DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak, a record many believe will never be broken, or his three most-valuable-player awards or his two batting titles.

“It was the way he carried himself,” Bando said. “He retired at the peak of his career, he was married to Marilyn Monroe, he was always a gentleman, he never used foul language . . . he was the complete package.”

Most will remember that package wrapped in pinstripes, standing under a navy cap with the classic interlocking “NY” logo. That’s why some might be surprised to learn DiMaggio briefly donned the gaudy yellow and green of the Athletics.

DiMaggio might have been the first “bonus baby” of coaches, hired by then-owner Charlie Finley for the unheard-of-sum of $100,000 a year to bring some credibility to a first-year franchise after the move from Kansas City.

“I think he struggled a bit with the white shoes and the uniforms,” Bando said. “But he never complained.”

DiMaggio helped mold young players such as Bando and Reggie Jackson into the stars they eventually became. He spent only two years in Oakland, retiring and never returning to coaching, but that was long enough to leave a mark.

“He didn’t get much into mechanics, but he taught me the mental approach to the game,” Bando said. “He never talked about himself or his experiences. He never said, ‘Oh, when I was playing . . . ‘ or ‘Oh, during my hitting streak . . . ‘ He never imposed himself on you. You always had to go to him.”

Bando said that although DiMaggio wasn’t the least bit intimidating, some players were in awe of him.

“At that time, he was still the greatest living player in the game,” Bando said.

That is a tag that the baseball world, sadly, must drop today. Some may argue that Mickey Mantle was a better center fielder or Babe Ruth was a better hitter, but no discussion of the game’s greatest players would be credible without DiMaggio.

“You can make a strong case for him being the best to have ever played this game,” said Seattle Mariner Manager Lou Piniella, a former Yankee outfielder who met DiMaggio several times. “He epitomized what baseball is all about--class, dignity and winning.

“You have guys like him, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron . . . there are a lot of people in baseball who make you proud to have played this game. They’re tremendous contributors to the sports world and society in general.”

Even today’s younger players have an appreciation for DiMaggio’s standing in the game.

“Yogi Berra and Reggie Jackson were great players, too,” Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter said. “But Joe D. He has a song--that takes it to a different level.”

A level most players can only dream of reaching.

“He was a jewel to baseball,” Anderson said. “He’s someone we’ll treasure forever.”

Times staff writer Jason Reid contributed to this story.

The Times’ Web site has newsreel video clips, radio calls and a photo gallery of

Joe DiMaggio’s greatest moments:

https://www.latimes.com/dimaggio