Joe DiMaggio Day was Saturday, October 1, 1949, and the New York Yankees picked a strange afternoon for a party. Joe DiMaggio was 34, 18 pounds lighter than he'd been a few weeks earlier, and still shaking off viral pneumonia. The Red Sox were in town leading the American League by one game with two to play. And 69,551 people packed the Stadium to see both.
Nobody postponed the party. Nobody postponed the pennant race, either.
A Fever in September
DiMaggio's 1949 had already been one long medical chart. A bone spur in his right heel kept him out until late June, and then he went to Fenway and hit four home runs in three games, which is how you make a heel injury famous.
Then, in mid-September, he ran a temperature of 102. A cold turned into the flu, the flu turned into pneumonia, and DiMaggio ended up in the hospital. By the last weekend of the season he was gaunt and wobbly. The Yankees needed to sweep the two games at home to win the pennant. Lose either one, and the Red Sox were going to the World Series.
An Hour at Home Plate
The ceremony ran about an hour. DiMaggio's mother was there, along with his young son, Joe Jr. So was his brother Dom, who happened to be Boston's center fielder and had a pennant of his own to worry about that afternoon.
Joe could barely stay on his feet. At one point he leaned on Dom to keep upright, a Yankee propped up by a Red Sox player in front of a ballpark full of Yankees fans (not a sight the Bronx usually cheers).
The gifts kept coming. Two cars, one of them for his mother. A 22-foot Chris-Craft speedboat that ended up with the name "Joltin' Joe" on it. Three hundred quarts of ice cream. A cocker spaniel. Television sets, watches, luggage, fishing tackle. It read less like a tribute and more like the prize list from a game show nobody had invented yet.
Then DiMaggio stepped to the microphone and gave the crowd the line that's outlived the rest of the afternoon.
I want to thank the Good Lord for making me a Yankee.
The sources don't agree on whether he said "I want to" or "I'd like to." The sign that later hung in the hallway to the dugout at the old Stadium went with "I want to," and generations of Yankees tapped it on their way to the field. That settles it as far as I'm concerned.
Four Runs Down
Then they had to play a ballgame, and for three innings it looked like the party was over.
Allie Reynolds started for the Yankees against Mel Parnell, who'd win 25 games that year. Boston scored once in the first. In the third, Reynolds lost the strike zone, and Casey Stengel went to Joe Page with the bases full. Page walked the first two men he faced. Both runs scored, and Boston led 4-0.
Page didn't give them anything else. He pitched the final 6 2/3 innings and allowed one hit.
The Yankees got two back in the fourth. DiMaggio, who had no business swinging a bat that day, led off the fifth with a double and scored on Hank Bauer's single, and the Yankees pulled even at 4-4 before the inning ended. He finished with two hits. Pneumonia apparently didn't scout him very well.
Lindell Ends It
Parnell was gone by then, and Joe Dobson took over for Boston. Both bullpens held through seven.
In the bottom of the eighth, with two outs and nobody on, Johnny Lindell took Dobson deep. It was only his sixth home run of the season. It might've been the most important one he ever hit. Page closed out the ninth, and the Yankees won 5-4.
Both clubs went to bed at 96-57. One game left, winner take all, same ballpark.
The Next Afternoon
The pennant came the next day, a 5-3 win behind Vic Raschi, and the Yankees went on to beat Brooklyn in the World Series. The 1949 title was Stengel's first, and the first of five straight.
People compare DiMaggio's day to Lou Gehrig's in 1939 and Babe Ruth's in 1947, and the comparison holds up to a point. Gehrig and Ruth were saying goodbye. DiMaggio was sick, sure, but he had two more seasons in him, and he played the game that followed. He didn't just get honored on October 1. He helped win it.
| Date | Saturday, October 1, 1949 |
| Site | Yankee Stadium |
| Attendance | 69,551 |
| DiMaggio's Age | 34 |
| Ceremony Length | About one hour |
| Standings Before | Red Sox up one game, two to play |
| Game Result | Yankees 5, Red Sox 4 |
| Largest Deficit | 0-4 (third inning) |
| Winning Pitcher | Joe Page (6 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R) |
| Losing Pitcher | Joe Dobson |
| Winning Hit | Johnny Lindell solo HR, 8th inning |
| Standings After | Tied at 96-57 |
The Heel Comeback
DiMaggio returns from his bone spur at Fenway and homers four times in a three-game sweep.
Pneumonia
A fever of 102 turns into viral pneumonia. DiMaggio lands in the hospital and drops 18 pounds.
Joe DiMaggio Day
An hour-long ceremony before 69,551, then a 5-4 comeback win over Boston on Johnny Lindell's eighth-inning homer.
The Pennant
The Yankees beat the Red Sox 5-3 in the winner-take-all finale.
Frequently Asked Questions
When was Joe DiMaggio Day?
Joe DiMaggio Day was Saturday, October 1, 1949, at Yankee Stadium. The ceremony took place before the next-to-last game of the regular season, against the Boston Red Sox.
What did Joe DiMaggio say on Joe DiMaggio Day?
His best-known line was "I want to thank the Good Lord for making me a Yankee." Some accounts quote it as "I'd like to thank the Good Lord." The "I want to" version went on a sign in the hallway to the dugout at the old Yankee Stadium, and players touched it on their way to the field.
Why was DiMaggio sick on Joe DiMaggio Day?
DiMaggio came down with a high fever in mid-September 1949 that turned into viral pneumonia. He spent time in the hospital and lost 18 pounds, and he had to lean on his brother Dom to stay on his feet during the ceremony.
Did the Yankees win on Joe DiMaggio Day?
Yes. The Yankees fell behind Boston 4-0, then came back to win 5-4. Joe Page threw 6 2/3 innings of one-hit relief, DiMaggio had two hits, and Johnny Lindell hit a solo home run off Joe Dobson in the eighth inning for the winning run.
What did the 1949 Joe DiMaggio Day win mean for the pennant race?
Boston came in leading by one game with two to play. The win tied the teams at 96-57 and set up a winner-take-all game on October 2, which the Yankees won 5-3 to clinch the American League pennant.
He'd thanked the Good Lord for making him a Yankee. Lindell and Page made sure he'd still be one in October.