Best all-time center fielders in MLB history
Best All-Time Center Fielders #5: Joe DiMaggio
“There is always some kid who may be seeing me for the first time. I owe him my best.”—Joe DiMaggio
This all-time list of the top 20 center fielders in MLB history has a couple guys on the same tier at the very top, followed by two more on the next tier and two more on the third tier down. Joe DiMaggio is with Ken Griffey, Jr. on that third tier. They were both worth roughly 80 WAR in their careers and rank fifth and sixth in peak value, based on Jay Jaffe’s JAWS.
One of the big differences between DiMaggio and Griffey is that Joltin’ Joe missed three prime years of his career because of World War II. He also retired after his age-36 season, when he was still an above-average player. He likely could have been productive for a couple more seasons. As it was, DiMaggio was an incredible player who had a terrific career.
Considering how well he hit with the San Francisco Seals in the Pacific Coast League, it’s clear that DiMaggio should have been in the major leagues at least a year or two or three before he made his debut in 1936. With the Seals from 1933 to 1935, he hit .340, .341, and .398. Even the talent-laden Yankees should have been able to find a spot for that guy.
There was no Rookie of the Year Award when DiMaggio took the field for the first time with the Yankees in 1936. Had there been, he would have won it. He hit .323/.352/.576 and led the league with 15 triples. He also made the all-star team, which he would go on to do in all 13 seasons he played in the major leagues.
When DiMaggio joined the Yankees, Babe Ruth was long gone but Lou Gehrig remained and was still one of the best players in baseball. He won the AL MVP Award in DiMaggio’s rookie year. He continued to play well for two more seasons, but hung up his spikes during the 1939 season because his body was feeling the effects of ALS.
With Gehrig sidelined, DiMaggio became the face of the franchise in 1939 and he immediately led the league with a .381 batting average and won the AL MVP Award. He would win it again two years later. These two first place finishes in MVP voting came during a stretch of eight seasons in which DiMaggio finished in the top eight every year. In his 1941 MVP season, DiMaggio famously hit in 56 straight games, a record that still stands.
The Yankees were wildly successful at this time and would remain so throughout DiMaggio’s career. They made it to the World Series 10 times in the 13 years he played in the big leagues, winning nine of them. Also, his service in World War II cost him a chance to play on the 1943 World Series-winning team.
After missing those three prime years to military service, DiMaggio resumed his all-star play in 1946. He was the AL MVP for the third time in his career in 1947 and finished second in MVP voting in 1948, despite leading the league in home runs and RBI. That was the year Lou Boudreau won the award after leding Cleveland to the AL pennant and their last World Series title.
In 1949, DiMaggio’s right heel kept him sidelined at the start of the season. He had experienced trouble with the heel for quite some time, but always played through it. In 1949, he was no longer able to do that. An “icepack stabbing his foot” is how he described the pain.
After missing the first few months of the season, DiMaggio came back just in time for a series against the hated Red Sox in Fenway Park. He dominated the series, then continued to play well over the rest of the season, finishing with a .346/.459/.596 batting line in 76 games. The Yankees won the pennant and the ensuing World Series.
As well as he played through the heel injury in 1949, DiMaggio couldn’t overcome it in the long run. He played two more solid seasons before retiring after the 1951 season. Three years later, he would marry perhaps the only person in the country as famous as he was, Marilyn Monroe. The following year, he would be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.