Seven-and-a-half decades after he played his last game for the New York Yankees, Joe DiMaggio’s baseball legacy still looms large. Ardent fans recall his unbreakable 56-game hitting streak and the graceful, elegant way he played the game and comported himself.
But what’s been forgotten over time is how DiMaggio’s impact carried far beyond the confines of a ballpark. The role he played in the assimilation and acceptance of Italian immigrants and their children and grandchildren in the 20th century was profound. It’s something that can’t be calibrated in boxscores.
