Joe DiMaggio won his first American League MVP award on October 24, 1939, after hitting .381 with 30 home runs and 126 RBI for the New York Yankees. The average led the league and was the best of his career. He took 15 of 24 first-place votes and 280 of a possible 335 points. Jimmie Foxx finished second.
He was 24 years old. He'd been over .400 in September. That second fact is the one he never let go of.
A Leg in the Mud
The season nearly came apart in its first two weeks. On April 29, against Washington in the Bronx, DiMaggio chased a hard drive off the bat of Bobby Estalella. His right foot stuck in the wet turf, and the muscles just above his ankle tore. Estalella got a triple. DiMaggio got a hospital bed.
He didn't play again for weeks.
It was a bad month to be gone. Three days after DiMaggio went down, Lou Gehrig took himself out of the lineup in Detroit, and the streak ended at 2,130 games. The club lost its captain and its center fielder inside the same week. Most teams don't survive that. The 1939 Yankees won 106 games anyway and finished 17 ahead of Boston (which says something about Joe McCarthy's bench and something less flattering about the rest of the league).
Four Months of Line Drives
Once DiMaggio's leg healed, he hit like a man trying to make up for lost time. He homered in the All-Star Game at the Stadium in July. By the second week of September, he was batting over .400.
The detail that jumps off the page is the strikeouts. DiMaggio went down on strikes 20 times all year. He hit 30 home runs. Swinging that hard, that often, and missing that rarely isn't supposed to go together, and nobody's figured out how to teach it since.
| Batting Line | .381 / .448 / .671 |
| Batting Average | .381 (led AL, career high) |
| Games / At-Bats | 120 / 462 |
| Hits / Runs | 176 / 108 |
| Doubles / Triples / HR | 32 / 6 / 30 |
| RBI | 126 |
| Walks / Strikeouts | 52 / 20 |
| MVP Vote | 280 of 335 pts, 15 of 24 first-place votes |
| Runner-Up | Jimmie Foxx, Boston |
McCarthy Says No
Then the September chase turned into a September slide.
With the pennant all but locked up, McCarthy called DiMaggio into his office and told him he'd play every day. The skipper didn't want anyone calling his center fielder a "cheese champion" -- a guy who sat on a number instead of earning it. Days later, by DiMaggio's own account, the trouble started with his eye.
A few days later I got this terrible pain over my right eye. I didn't tell anyone, and I went to a doctor who gave me Novocain shots over the eye to kill the pain.
Even the eye's in dispute. Richard Ben Cramer's biography puts the infection in the left one. The result isn't in dispute at all. DiMaggio played through it, the hits stopped falling, and the average sank to .381.
He never stopped believing he'd have hit .400 if McCarthy had let him sit. He told friends so for the rest of his life. Two years later a skinny kid in Boston named Ted Williams finished at .406, and DiMaggio had to watch somebody else collect the number he'd let slip.
The Writers Weigh In
The .381 still beat Foxx, the runner-up, by 21 points. Foxx won the home run crown with 35 and topped DiMaggio in slugging, too, but the writers didn't need long to sort it out. DiMaggio played on the best team in baseball, for a club that had just lost Gehrig, and he'd been the best hitter in the league besides.
Three writers from each of the league's eight cities cast ballots. Fifteen of the 24 put DiMaggio first.
By then the Yankees had already swept Cincinnati for their fourth straight championship, with DiMaggio circling the bases behind Charlie Keller on the famous Game 4 play at the plate. The MVP was the last piece of paperwork on a season that didn't need any more proof.
What Came Next
DiMaggio won the batting title again in 1940, at .352, as the Yankees stumbled to third. In 1941 he hit in 56 straight games and won a second MVP. The third came in 1947, by a single point over Williams.
None of them came with a higher average than 1939. The .381 stayed his career best. It also stayed 19 points short of the one number he wanted. He'd been over .400 in September. He never let anybody forget it, least of all himself.
Torn Leg Muscle
Chasing a Bobby Estalella drive against Washington, DiMaggio catches his right foot in wet turf and tears muscles above the ankle. He's out for weeks.
Gehrig Sits Down
With DiMaggio sidelined, Lou Gehrig removes himself from the lineup in Detroit, ending his streak at 2,130 games.
All-Star Homer
DiMaggio hits the only home run of the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium, a 3-1 American League win.
Over .400, Then Under
DiMaggio is above .400 in the second week of September. McCarthy keeps him in the lineup, eye trouble sets in, and he fades to .381.
Fourth Straight Title
The Yankees finish a sweep of Cincinnati in Game 4, with DiMaggio scoring on the famous 10th-inning play at the plate.
First MVP
The Baseball Writers' Association names DiMaggio the AL MVP with 280 of 335 points and 15 first-place votes. Jimmie Foxx finishes second.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Joe DiMaggio win the MVP in 1939?
Yes. The Baseball Writers' Association of America named DiMaggio the American League MVP on October 24, 1939. He received 280 of a possible 335 points and 15 of 24 first-place votes. Boston's Jimmie Foxx was the runner-up. It was the first of DiMaggio's three MVP awards, along with 1941 and 1947.
What were Joe DiMaggio's stats in 1939?
DiMaggio hit .381/.448/.671 with 30 home runs, 126 RBI, 176 hits, and 108 runs in 120 games. He struck out only 20 times in 462 at-bats. The .381 average led the American League and was the highest of his career.
Why didn't Joe DiMaggio hit .400 in 1939?
He was over .400 in the second week of September, but Joe McCarthy refused to bench him to protect the average, and DiMaggio later said an eye problem hit him days afterward. He played through it and finished at .381. DiMaggio believed for the rest of his life that he'd have reached .400 if McCarthy had let him sit.
How many games did Joe DiMaggio miss in 1939?
He played 120 games. A torn muscle above his right ankle, suffered on April 29 against Washington, kept him out for weeks, through at least late May.