Speaker 1: This is our American Stories, and we tell stories about
Speaker 1: everything here on this show. One of our favorite subjects
Speaker 1: is the subject of sports. More than three hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty sets of brothers have played in the major leagues
Speaker 1: since the eighteen seventies, and we're talking about baseball. But
Speaker 1: few have had the skill, the charisma, or the success
Speaker 1: of the Demaggio brothers, Jolton, Joe, dom and Vince. Here
Speaker 1: to tell the story is the four time New York
Speaker 1: Times bestseller author Tom Cleveland. He'll be sharing stories from
Speaker 1: his book The Demaggio's Three Brothers, their passion for baseball
Speaker 1: and their pursuit of the American dream. Here's Cleveland. The
Speaker 1: Demagio's is about family. That's the reason why I wrote
Speaker 1: the book. It's dedicated to my own family. I had
Speaker 1: actually turned down the oppunity to write the Demaggios twice.
Speaker 1: I was not interested. I thought that Richard ben Kramer
Speaker 1: had done the book on the Demaggio's because of his
Speaker 1: biography of Joe Demajo in A Hero's Life. I'm not
Speaker 1: a big fan of that book, but I figured it
Speaker 1: would be pretty thorough and what else could I do.
Speaker 1: The third time that my agent suggested that I do
Speaker 1: a book on the Demago's, all three brothers. I agreed
Speaker 1: to look into it, mostly just so I could get
Speaker 1: him off my back and he could stop suggesting that.
Speaker 1: And I started to do some research. I mean, like
Speaker 1: most people, I maybe didn't even know there were two
Speaker 1: other Demaggio brothers, or I knew that there was Dominic
Speaker 1: in Boston, but I didn't know about Vince at all.
Speaker 1: And it is kind of remarkable that you had three
Speaker 1: brothers playing at the same time, not unheard of. I mean,
Speaker 1: we know about the Alue brothers, for example, and we
Speaker 1: had other brothers who have played at the same time
Speaker 1: with the Demaggio's. My first stop was, after doing some
Speaker 1: initial researches, I made an appointment with Dominic Dmazo Junior
Speaker 1: and went up to see him. He had taken over
Speaker 1: his father's factory manufacturing business in the Boston area, and
Speaker 1: I went up to see him and spent the day
Speaker 1: with him talking about his father. And I came away
Speaker 1: realizing that and many writers would not want to say
Speaker 1: something like this, my agent was right. There was a
Speaker 1: terrific story here and it went way beyond Joe Damagio,
Speaker 1: which I was very glad for. Because even though I
Speaker 1: was born and raised the Yankees fan, my father's favorite
Speaker 1: player was Joe Damaco. Again, a Joe Dmazo biography didn't
Speaker 1: interest me, so I wrote a book that really is
Speaker 1: from the viewpoint of family. Giuseppe and Rosalie coming over
Speaker 1: from Italy barely could speak English, becoming a fisherman in
Speaker 1: the San Francisco area, raising nine children. The last of
Speaker 1: home where Vincent DiMaggio, Joe DiMaggio and the baby Dominic DiMaggio,
Speaker 1: and those are the three that became baseball players. They
Speaker 1: were in carbon copies of each other. They all three
Speaker 1: loved baseball. It's interesting that the Giseppi and Rosalie and
Speaker 1: had six children and then they had Vincent, and Vincent
Speaker 1: was passionate about baseball, and he was talented, and he
Speaker 1: the father, Giuseppe forbade his children to play baseball. And
Speaker 1: so when Joe was a teenager, he couldn't play, or
Speaker 1: he would have to play in secret. When Dominic was
Speaker 1: very young, he couldn't play, or the mother would sometimes
Speaker 1: cover for them. But Vincent was very blatant about it.
Speaker 1: He wanted to play baseball. That's what he wanted to
Speaker 1: do with his life. And when Giuseppe kept being optioned
Speaker 1: about it, but Vincent did as he ran away. Some
Speaker 1: kids run away and joined the circus. Vincent ran away
Speaker 1: to join a baseball team, and he started playing in
Speaker 1: leagues up and down the up and down California, up
Speaker 1: and down the West Coast into Oregon and Washington. Eventually
Speaker 1: made it to the Pacific Coast League, which was almost
Speaker 1: a Major league caliber. One of the enjoyments for me
Speaker 1: of writing the book The Damajo's was that all three
Speaker 1: brothers played first the Pacific Coast League before going onto
Speaker 1: the major leagues. Anyway. Vincent went off to play baseball,
Speaker 1: and he was gone for about two years, and he
Speaker 1: came back to the family home in the San Francisco area,
Speaker 1: and his father basically had his arms crossed and said,
Speaker 1: so you come back. You probably have no money and
Speaker 1: you've been a big failure, and now you're ready to
Speaker 1: be a fisherman, just like your father, just like your brothers,
Speaker 1: well two of the brothers anyway, And instead Vincent reached
Speaker 1: into his pocket and put something like, you know, six
Speaker 1: thousand dollars cash on the table. That's what I earned
Speaker 1: playing baseball, and gi Seppi took a look at that,
Speaker 1: and he went to Joe and he said, what are
Speaker 1: you going to start playing baseball? Well, Joe is ready,
Speaker 1: willing and able to jump right in. And he also
Speaker 1: started playing for local teams and for the Pacific Coast League,
Speaker 1: and he quickly apt distance Vincent. Now we should really
Speaker 1: give credit defence in here, because he had the courage
Speaker 1: to follow his dream. And it was because of that
Speaker 1: the door got cracked open for Joe Domaco. If it
Speaker 1: had not been for Vincent, we would never might never
Speaker 1: know Joe Dimaco, a Hall of Fame player, winner of
Speaker 1: nine World Series titles. So Joe started to play the
Speaker 1: Pacific Coast League and it was in the Pacific Coast
Speaker 1: League that he had a sixty one game hitting streak.
Speaker 1: I mean, we know about the longer than the long
Speaker 1: hitting streak he had Major League Baseball, but he had
Speaker 1: his longest one of his careers in the Pacific Coast League. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: Vincent does get called up to the major leagues. I
Speaker 1: believe his first team he played for was the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Speaker 1: He eventually played for the Philadelphia Phillies, but it was
Speaker 1: with the Pirates that he had a couple of all
Speaker 1: Star seasons. He was a very good defensive outfielder, probably
Speaker 1: during his years in the National League, the best center
Speaker 1: fielder in the National League. And he was a pretty
Speaker 1: decent hitter, and he made the All Star team into
Speaker 1: a couple of years. Joe came up with the Yankees
Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty six, was his rookie season, and he
Speaker 1: and Dimajo were on great Yankee teams that won the
Speaker 1: Pennant in thirty six, thirty seven, thirty eight, thirty nine,
Speaker 1: you know, four straight Pennants, four straight World Series. As
Speaker 1: it turned out too, so Joe right away got used
Speaker 1: to winning, and he was an All Star every year.
Speaker 1: And then what about Dominic DiMaggio, the youngest one. He
Speaker 1: was also nicknamed the Professor. He had these stick glasses.
Speaker 1: Nobody thought of him as a baseball player. He had
Speaker 1: to really go against a lot of stereotypes to eventually
Speaker 1: work his way through the Pacific Coast League and then
Speaker 1: into Major League Baseball, where he was signed by the Yankees.
Speaker 1: Had a chance to sign him and they passed. I
Speaker 1: didn't think he was, you know, anything like his brother,
Speaker 1: and he was not Joe Dimajo, but he was Dominic
Speaker 1: Dimajo when he was a darn good ball player, and
Speaker 1: I happen to think I should have been given more
Speaker 1: consideration for the Hall of Fame. But he was taken
Speaker 1: by the Boston Red Sox and he had nine All
Speaker 1: Star seasons. He played thirteen seasons, played from about nineteen
Speaker 1: forty to fifty three fifty two, I think, and he
Speaker 1: made the All Star Team nine seven times. Excuse me.
Speaker 1: Joe had made the All Star Team thirteen times and
Speaker 1: Vincent twice, so he had the three brothers between the
Speaker 1: three of them made twenty two All Star teams. That's
Speaker 1: a remarkable level of achievement for any family, and their
Speaker 1: careers took different paths. Now in Vincent's case, by the
Speaker 1: time World War Two ended, he was done with baseball.
Speaker 1: He still played. He just kept playing in less accomplished
Speaker 1: in smaller leagues, and eventually ended up back on the
Speaker 1: West Coast. And he had a troubled post baseball career alcoholism,
Speaker 1: couldn't having a hard time holding a job. So he's
Speaker 1: also kind of like a story of the American dream.
Speaker 1: Like the Demajo family was that his dream was to
Speaker 1: play baseball, and the accomplished it. It was outside of
Speaker 1: baseball that he had trouble, you know, dealing with life. Joe,
Speaker 1: as we know, was a great leader of the Yankees.
Speaker 1: He did miss three seasons because of World War Two.
Speaker 1: I discussed in the books some of the controversy about
Speaker 1: that because he yet to be sort of dragged kicking
Speaker 1: and screaming into the military service. But he's a guy
Speaker 1: who was about to make one hundred thousand dollars and
Speaker 1: studies making two hundred forty dollars a month being in
Speaker 1: the army when he got out of the service. When
Speaker 1: World War Two ended, the Yankees again won the pennant
Speaker 1: in forty seven, forty nine, fifty fifty one. Joe with
Speaker 1: diminishing skills, and then he retired after the fifty one season.
Speaker 1: By this time, Mickey Manner was on the Yankees and
Speaker 1: a new era began for the Yankees. Joe had a
Speaker 1: pretty famous post baseball career. He was always introduced as
Speaker 1: the greatest living ballplayer. Much of the detriment and lot
Speaker 1: of amusement of Ted Williams. When you look at their
Speaker 1: respective statistics, Ted Williams far out distanced Joe DiMaggio. He
Speaker 1: just didn't have nine World Series titles. And you're listening
Speaker 1: to Tom Cleveland, and he's sharing stories from his book
Speaker 1: The Demaggio's Three Brothers, their passion for baseball and their
Speaker 1: pursuit of the American dream. When we come back more
Speaker 1: of the story of the Demaggio brothers here on our
Speaker 1: American Stories. And we continue with the story of the
Speaker 1: Demaggio brothers here on our American Stories. Let's return to
Speaker 1: Tom Cleveland. Joe and Dominic were very close brothers. They
Speaker 1: really loved each other. They were also very fierce competitors,
Speaker 1: and it didn't help that they would both considered the
Speaker 1: best set of fails of the American League. In the
Speaker 1: case of how they loved each other, I think one
Speaker 1: example as the nineteen forty one season. It also shows
Speaker 1: that Ted Williams cared so much for Dominic and for
Speaker 1: Joe too, even though they were very much rivals. But
Speaker 1: in the nineteen forty one season, Joe was doing his
Speaker 1: fifty six game hitting streak and out in the outfield
Speaker 1: when they were at Fenway Park, you had Ted Williams
Speaker 1: and left and Dominic and center. And usually in those
Speaker 1: days games were played, you know, in the daytime, and
Speaker 1: it was hard for finding out, you know, what was
Speaker 1: going on in the game that was being played at
Speaker 1: the exact same time. So Ted basically bribed the scorekeeper
Speaker 1: who was behind the green wall and Fenway Park to
Speaker 1: listen to radio or some kind of way to get
Speaker 1: information from the New York game. And whenever Joe got
Speaker 1: a hit, he would yell it out to Ted, who
Speaker 1: in turn would yell it over to Dominic in center field.
Speaker 1: And Dominic paid attention very fiercely to every moment that
Speaker 1: he could get his hands on Joe dimago hitting streak.
Speaker 1: I think one way that they were competitors is that
Speaker 1: one illustration of this in nineteen forty eight, the Yankees,
Speaker 1: the Indians, and the Red Sox are all competing for
Speaker 1: the American League Pennant Yankee. The Red Sox had one
Speaker 1: in forty six, the Yankees had one in forty seven.
Speaker 1: And now you had these upstart into Cleveland Indians. And
Speaker 1: as it happened, Dominic had been dating a woman named Emily,
Speaker 1: and they had made plans to marry, and they planned
Speaker 1: to get married in October nineteen forty eight, and Joe
Speaker 1: dimag Joe calls his mother and his mother is expressing
Speaker 1: some concern that what happens if the Red Sox win
Speaker 1: the pennant and Dominic won't be able to get married
Speaker 1: when he's supposed to, and Joe says, don't worry, mama,
Speaker 1: I'll personally take care of it, make sure Dominic's available
Speaker 1: for his wedding. And sure enough, on the last weekend
Speaker 1: of the season, Joe demolishes the Red Sox and the
Speaker 1: Cleveland Indians win the pennant, and the Dominic is sent
Speaker 1: home in time to get married, with of course Joe
Speaker 1: as his best man. I think another good example of
Speaker 1: their competitiveness is that in nineteen forty nine, Dominic had
Speaker 1: a hitting streak of his own going on. I mean,
Speaker 1: he ended up all of all the people in all
Speaker 1: of baseball. Joe's own brother is the one coming the
Speaker 1: closest to his fifty six game hitting streak, and it's
Speaker 1: up to thirty seven games, so Dominic only has another
Speaker 1: nineteen games to go. He'll at least tie his brother.
Speaker 1: And they're actually the Yankees are playing the Red Sox
Speaker 1: of all places, of all teams, and Dominic is over
Speaker 1: three and he gets up again, it's it'll be his last.
Speaker 1: Unless there's an amazing comeback, there's going to be his
Speaker 1: last at bat of the game, and he sends a
Speaker 1: screamer to the left center field gap and in a
Speaker 1: brilliant play, who chases it down but Joe DiMaggio, robbing
Speaker 1: his brother of a base hit and breaking his brother's
Speaker 1: thirty seven game hitting streak. They used to keep score too.
Speaker 1: I should mention this how many times one robbed a
Speaker 1: hit from the other. And by the end of their careers,
Speaker 1: Dominic actually by an easy margin, had out scored his
Speaker 1: brother Joe and who stole a hit from the other
Speaker 1: one by their play in center field. So they loved
Speaker 1: each other very much that they did. It was a
Speaker 1: lifelong thing. The biggest claim to fame for Joe after
Speaker 1: his career as a baseball player was marrying Marilyn Monroe.
Speaker 1: That marriage lasted only nine months. And there's I think
Speaker 1: information in my book about the Joe Marilyn relationship that
Speaker 1: you won't find other places. And a big reason for
Speaker 1: that is because I had access to members of the
Speaker 1: Demaggio family. They're quite a few of them did not participate.
Speaker 1: And then Richard ben Kramer Joe Demaco biography, I think
Speaker 1: because they got and I a sense from him that
Speaker 1: I was going to be rather critical. My book is
Speaker 1: not pro Demajo anti Demajo. It's the story about the family,
Speaker 1: even to the point where Dominic and Emily as if
Speaker 1: they really liked Marilyn Monroe. They thought she was a
Speaker 1: wonderful girl. They thought she and Joe were wrong for
Speaker 1: each other, but they can see that they were in love,
Speaker 1: and they were fully supportive of Joe getting married to Maryland.
Speaker 1: That's what he wanted. Now we know that the marriage
Speaker 1: lasted only nine months, I think in nineteen fifty four,
Speaker 1: and they broke up and went their separate ways. But
Speaker 1: apparently they still had a strong attraction to each other.
Speaker 1: Because what most people don't know, and I learned this
Speaker 1: from Emily Demajo, who again is the only one of
Speaker 1: that generations still alive. She's in her nineties now, that
Speaker 1: Marilyn and Joe used to have these secret rendezvous up
Speaker 1: at Dominic and Emily's place up in the Boston area
Speaker 1: in Massachusetts, sisters in the nineteen fifties, and every so
Speaker 1: often somebody would somebody from the press would wonder was
Speaker 1: at a Demago sighting, and they would stake out the
Speaker 1: Emily house in the Boston area. So sometimes they would
Speaker 1: have to Dominic would get into disguise. This Joe would
Speaker 1: get into Joe's car and drive it a rod a
Speaker 1: little while. Meanwhile, Emily would and would get a cab
Speaker 1: for Joe and Marilyn to take them to the train
Speaker 1: stations that they could head back to New York. That
Speaker 1: went on until Marilyn met Arthur Miller and then at
Speaker 1: the all the hanky panky, which Joe ended. As far
Speaker 1: as we know so, Joe had already a failed marriage,
Speaker 1: and as his life went on, he became more and
Speaker 1: more disenchanted with his fame, it seemed, with life in general.
Speaker 1: He had a very difficult relationship with his only child,
Speaker 1: Joe Dimago Junior. You can imagine what that was like
Speaker 1: for him, being Joe Dimajo junior and always being compared
Speaker 1: to his father. He tried and did not become a
Speaker 1: baseball player. He did become a join the Marine Corps,
Speaker 1: but he also drifted a lot. He was more like
Speaker 1: his brother Vince. Couldn't quite get traction on the rest
Speaker 1: of his life. And when Joe died, it was a
Speaker 1: national headlines all over the place, of course, because he
Speaker 1: was an icon. You know, where have you gone, Joe Dimajo?
Speaker 1: He was in songs. He was lionized in the press.
Speaker 1: He always got good press, even though in a lot
Speaker 1: of ways he couldn't stand the press. But what about Dominic. Now,
Speaker 1: in a case of Dominic Domajo, I believe it's fair
Speaker 1: for me to say that I did not start this
Speaker 1: book with the idea that he would become really more
Speaker 1: of the central character or coming out of the book
Speaker 1: as my sort of hero. But what happened was, I
Speaker 1: think as I got to know Dominic from talking to
Speaker 1: his children, and thankfully his widow was still alive. She
Speaker 1: was ninety ish, but I was able to visit with
Speaker 1: her several times, at many conversations with her. She was
Speaker 1: the keeper of the Domaggio family history. She was the
Speaker 1: only one of the nine Demargio children and their spouses.
Speaker 1: She was the only one of that generation still alive.
Speaker 1: She had married Dominic in nineteen forty eight, so she
Speaker 1: was there while Dominic was still at the prime of
Speaker 1: his career. Dominic joined the Red Sox in nineteen forty
Speaker 1: He also missed three seasons because he was in the navy,
Speaker 1: and after World War Two he came back and he
Speaker 1: was just getting into his prime. Like his brothers. Joe
Speaker 1: and Vincent, who was starting to get past their prime
Speaker 1: after the war. He was just getting into his prime
Speaker 1: as a ballplayer. I mean, the Red Sox had great
Speaker 1: teams in the mid to late forties. You know you
Speaker 1: had you had Dominic Demacho, who was considered a better
Speaker 1: set to field than his brother. He was not a
Speaker 1: power here like his brother. He was usually bagging in
Speaker 1: the first or second spot, followed by people like Johnny
Speaker 1: Pesky and Bobby Doore, Vern Stevens, Jimmy Fox. There were
Speaker 1: a lot of really good Red Sox players alongside Dominic.
Speaker 1: Dominic right from the beginning after his marriage, emphasized family.
Speaker 1: That was what was most important to me. Loved baseball,
Speaker 1: but he always made sure that at the end of
Speaker 1: after every game, he came home and came home to
Speaker 1: his family. He and his wife had three children, a
Speaker 1: Dominic and Peter were the boys, and Emily Junior was
Speaker 1: the girl. And when Dominic when it was time for him,
Speaker 1: when the writing was on the wall and his career
Speaker 1: was winding down, he walked away and he bought a
Speaker 1: manufacturing company and became an extremely successful businessman. And to me,
Speaker 1: that's an important part of the book too, is the
Speaker 1: post baseball career of Dominic DiMaggio because he knew he
Speaker 1: was always going to be in the shadow of his
Speaker 1: brother as a ballplayer, but he was not in the
Speaker 1: shadow of his brother as a man or as a
Speaker 1: family man, as a husband or a father. He became
Speaker 1: quite wealthy, and he and his wife were very, very
Speaker 1: involved in Charity's philanthropic work in the Boston area. He
Speaker 1: remained a legendary figure in Boston, and he lived until
Speaker 1: he was I believe ninety two, when Dominic died, surrounded
Speaker 1: by family. And it's no coincidence that the very last
Speaker 1: word of the book is family. That's what the book,
Speaker 1: to me was about. The Domaggio's It was, you know,
Speaker 1: the subtitle as three brothers, their passion for baseball, their
Speaker 1: pursuit of the American Dream. I think it sums it
Speaker 1: up the subtitle because it was the families pursuit of
Speaker 1: the American dream. It was the passion of those three
Speaker 1: brothers for baseball, and it was their love and sometimes
Speaker 1: disturbing relationship with each other. Joe being the superhero of
Speaker 1: Vincent being viewed as a lot of ways as a failure,
Speaker 1: but Dominic not the hall of favor though I think
Speaker 1: he should have gotten more consideration, but probably most successful
Speaker 1: as a human being than the brothers, because he had
Speaker 1: this long enduring marriage of well over sixty years with
Speaker 1: his wife, the three children. His son takes over the
Speaker 1: manufacturing company, his daughter becomes a writer and an accomplished person.
Speaker 1: Peter's other Sun becomes an accomplished person. And so I
Speaker 1: just found myself as I was writing the book more
Speaker 1: and more gravitating towards Dominic's story. And I think that
Speaker 1: if people want, even not baseball fans, I think that
Speaker 1: they would enjoy the book because it's really a story
Speaker 1: about the American dream, and it's the story about family
Speaker 1: and great jobs. Away to Greg Hangler for bringing us
Speaker 1: this story, and a special thanks to Tom cleaven by
Speaker 1: the way, get his book The Demaggio's three brothers, their
Speaker 1: passion for baseball and their pursuit of the American dream.
Speaker 1: The Demaggio Brothers their story here on our American Stories