I Knew about .400. I knew he was a bit of a curmudgeon. I knew that he was one of the greatest.

I still learned quite a bit about this fascinating man on the HBO special last night. He was one of the earliest baseball players to “adopt” a charity. In his case The Jimmy Fund for kids with cancer in Boston. He helped out his whole life. Think about the 1941 All Star Game- Joe DiMaggio hitting third and Williams clean-up. behind in the ninth inning DiMaggiio hits into a fielder’s choice with two outs and then The Giant Splinter, as he was called, hit a home run. Apparently it was one of the only times he ever showed emotions on the basepaths. Of course many of his prime years were sadly lost to war. Particularly dismaying was him being drafted for the Korean conflict simply because the government hadn’t bothered to train any new pilots since 1945.  H still came back and was productive until his final at bat; a home run. I hope any of you with HBO check this out.

click the Photo above for the link to the HBO page complete with video preview.