May 3, 1936: Next in line: Joe DiMaggio makes Yankees debut

Earle Combs began a string of Hall of Fame players who were starting center fielders for the Yankees. After Combs, who played from 1924 to 1935, was Joe DiMaggio, who played from 1936 to 1951, and after DiMaggio was Mickey Mantle, who played in center field from 1952 until 1966.1 Combs became the regular center fielder in 1925. Dixie Walker started 59 games in center field in 1933. In late July of 1934 Combs suffered a fractured skull when he crashed into the outfield fence in St. Louis chasing a fly ball. He was out for the rest of the season, and Ben Chapman took over the position. After a two-month hospital stay, Combs came back in 1935 and played in a total of 89 games.

Chapman played center field in 138 games in 1935 and began play as the Yankees’ center fielder in 1936 before being traded to the Washington Senators for Jake Powell on June 14. He had caught a cold earlier and never was right after that.2

DiMaggio started his first game in left field with Chapman in center field. After also spending time in both right field and center field in 1936, DiMaggio became the Yankees’ center fielder in 1937.

Joe DiMaggio was born Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio on November 25, 1914, in Martinez, California, to Giuseppe and Rosalia (Mercurio) DiMaggio. The elder DiMaggio was a fisherman and young Joe was the eighth of nine children, one of five sons. Joe and brothers Vince and Dominic played major-league baseball; the other two brothers became fishermen like their father.

Vince DiMaggio persuaded the San Francisco Seals to give his younger brother a chance, and in 1932 the Seals signed Joe to a contract as a shortstop, a position he played in the final three games of the 1932 season. Joe played for the Seals from 1933 to 1935. In 1934 he batted .341 but a knee injury made most major-league teams a bit leery of signing him. The Yankees ended up buying his contract with the proviso that he play with the Seals in 1935 to prove that he was healthy.3 “The $75,000 rookie had been on the bench with a burned foot since the season began. He made his first start in left field4 for the Yankees.”5

DiMaggio had burned his foot in a diathermy machine during spring training.6 He was such a shy individual that he did not ask anyone why his foot was getting so hot, and when he finally took his foot out of the machine, it was red, blistered, and too sore for him to play. It took two weeks for his foot to heal.7

Despite his misadventure with the diathermy machine, DiMaggio proved himself to his coaches and teammates during spring training. Dan Daniel, the baseball writer for the New York World Telegram & Sun, wrote, “Here is the replacement for Babe Ruth” after the 21-year-old smashed line drives over the fences of the Florida ballparks.8

DiMaggio’s major-league debut came on May 3, 1936, in a game at Yankee Stadium against the St. Louis Browns. New York had last made the World Series in 1932. Babe Ruth and Earle Combs had retired, but it was still a potent Yankees lineup that contained future Hall of Famers Lou Gehrig, Bill Dickey, Tony Lazzeri, and Lefty Gomez as well as manager Joe McCarthy.

The Browns had not finished in the first division since 1929, when they were in fourth place, 26 games behind the Philadelphia Athletics. Their starting pitcher on May 3 was Jack Knott. Gomez started for the Yankees.

The Browns got to Gomez for three runs in the first inning on an error by third baseman Red Rolfe, singles by Jim Bottomley and Beau Bell, and a double by Harland Clift. DiMaggio’s first at-bat in the major leagues came in the first inning and his fielder’s choice scored Frankie Crosetti, who had tripled. DiMaggio and Red Rolfe came around to score on a double by Ben Chapman, and Lazzeri’s fly ball scored Gehrig with a run that gave the Yankees a 4-3 lead.

DiMaggio’s next at-bat came in the second inning and he got his first major-league hit, off Earl Caldwell, who had replaced Knott in the first inning. After Rolfe singled, DiMaggio’s single sent him to second base. A single by Gehrig, a fly ball by Dickey, and a triple by Chapman added three runs to the Yankees total and gave them a lead of 7-3.

Gomez gave up a leadoff home run to Ray Pepper in the third inning to make the score 7-4. Neither the Yankees in the third nor the Browns in the fourth scored. DiMaggio came to bat in the fourth inning and struck out.9 Later in the inning, a single by Gehrig and a walk to Dickey was followed by Chapman’s triple, which added two more runs to the Yankees’ total, giving them a 9-4 lead.

Leadoff doubles by Lyn Lary and the pesky Pepper made the score 9-5 in the top of the fifth inning. DiMaggio’s next at-bat came in the bottom of the sixth, and his second major-league hit was a triple. It scored Rolfe, who had led off with a double. Gehrig followed with a single to score DiMaggio and after an out by Dickey, Chapman’s single sent Gehrig to second base. George Selkirk singled to score Gehrig with Myril Hoag (who ran for Chapman) advancing to third base. A fly out by Lazzeri scored Hoag and the Yankees’ lead was now 13-5.

DiMaggio led off the seventh inning with a popup to second base. Then Gehrig singled, Dickey worked a walk, and Hoag was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Browns pitcher Elon Hogsett uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Gehrig to score. The Browns got out of the jam on a groundout and fly out and trailed 14-5.

St. Louis did not score in its half of the eighth. With two outs in the bottom of the inning, DiMaggio came up for the sixth time in the game. He responded with a single, but the Yankees did not score. Neither did the Browns in their half of the ninth inning and the Yankees came away with the 14-5 win.

Gehrig led the Yankees’ offense with four hits in five at-bats, two RBIs, and five runs scored. Ben Chapman was 4-for-4 with two triples, a double, and five RBIs. DiMaggio was 3-for-6, two singles and a triple. He scored three runs and drove in one.

The Yankees finished the year with a record of 102 wins, 51 losses, and 2 ties, giving them the American League pennant by 19½ games over the Detroit Tigers. New York then defeated the New York Giants in six games in the World Series, the first of four consecutive Series championships. DiMaggio played in 138 games in 1936, hitting for a .323 average; his 15 triples tied for the league lead with teammate Rolfe and Cleveland’s Earl Averill. He also made the first of his 13 appearances in an All-Star Game.

Sources

In addition to the game story and box-score sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted the Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org websites.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA193605030.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1936/B05030NYA1936.html

Notes

1 DiMaggio was absent from 1943 through 1945, when he was in the US Army. (Johnny Lindell got most of the starts in center field in those seasons.) Mantle played right field in 1951 and took over for DiMaggio in center field in 1952. In his last two seasons (1967-68), he played first base.

2 Bill Nowlin, “Ben Chapman,” SABR Biography Project, sabr.org, accessed October 13, 2022.

3 Lawrence Baldassaro, “Joe DiMaggio,” SABR Biography Project, sabr.org, accessed July 25, 2022.

4 DiMaggio played 64 games in left field, 54 in center field, and 20 in right field in 1936 before taking over as the full-time center fielder in 1937. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/dimagjo01.shtml, https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/D/Pdimaj101.htm.

5 Don Hallman, “3 Hits for ‘DiMag’ as Yanks Win, 14-5,” New York Daily News, May 4, 1936: 42.

6 Diathermy is the use of electrical current to cut or coagulate tissue during surgery. https://teachmesurgery.com/skills/surgical-equipment/diathermy/. Accessed October 13, 2022.

7 Bart Barnes, “Joltin’ Joe Has Gone Away,” Washington Post, March 8, 1999: A1.

8 Barnes.

9 DiMaggio struck out 39 times in 1936, the highest season total of his career, during which he struck out only 369 times in 6,821 at-bats.