“Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you,” Simon and Garfunkel sang in their 1960s song Mrs. Robinson. Baseball legend Joe DiMaggio was a cultural icon in the ’50s and ’60s, a time when sport allowed people to escape their everyday drudgery and dream, for a moment, of greater things. He was a hero full of grace, elegance and dignity.
“There was a majesty in his swing, and a self-assured confidence in his style and conduct that was uniquely Joe DiMaggio’s,” said Ernest Hemingway. “Joltin’ Joe” embodied the values of the exceptional American – his code of behavior, sense of duty and moral stamina – continuing to play in pain all through the 1951 season before retiring from the game of baseball.
