Real Grass, Real Heroes: Baseball's Historic 1941 Season

by Dom Dimaggio, Bill Gilbert

Against the backdrop of the growing storm clouds of World War II, the 1941 baseball season was remarkable both for its players and events--and for its significance as the end of an era. Written by Joe DiMaggio's brother.

Genres: Baseball, Memoir, Sports, History, Nonfiction, American History

291 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1990

Reviews

[Josh Hitch]

Really enjoyed this look at the 1941 season and all the changes that were about to happen with the US's involvement in WW2 coming. All told by the center fielder of the Red Sox, Dom DiMaggio. It was the year of his brother Joe's streak and Ted Williams .406 batting average. It was a real memorable season told about by someone who had ties to both big events.

Highly recommended, was well told, and enjoyed reading more about this season by someone who was there.

[Carol Storm]

Better Than Summer Of 49 -- Almost As Good As THE GLORY OF THEIR TIMES!!!

As a long line of male loved ones will attest, I can't keep awake for more than an inning or two of baseball in real life, whether on TV or at the park -- but I genuinely love reading about the game. Dominic DiMaggio tells the story of the golden age of baseball with the insights of an insider and still captures the golden warmth of nostalgia at the same time.

Dominic DiMaggio was a quiet, thoughtful man, never one to brag about his own achievements. This book is not about him, really, even though he was a standout player on some of the greatest Boston Red Sox teams in history. This book is about what it was like to be around Major League Baseball before, during, and after World War II -- a time of great tragedy and loss, but also great innocence and hope, on and off the baseball diamond.

Dom DiMaggio captures the magic of that vanished era. There are passages in this book so full of memories they literally bring tears to your eyes -- like when he describes the joys of train travel or what it was like to walk down the block on a hot summer afternoon when everyone in the neighborhood had the radion on to the same game at the same time!

You don't have to love baseball to love this book -- you just have to love being alive.

[Jason]

One of the best baseball books I've come across, by a guy who got the shaft from the Hall of Fame solely because his brother was Joltin' Joe DiMaggio (take as an argument that, during the 10 seasons Dom played, NO ONE in the majors had more hits than him...not Joe, not Ted Williams, no one!). Dom DiMaggio, Joe's younger brother and the guy who hit before Ted Williams in the Red Sox lineup for 10 seasons, recalls his personal experiences from the summer of '41, an historic year for baseball, when Joe D. hit in 56 straight and Teddy Ballgame hammered out a .406 BA, the last over .400 season average in baseball history. Dom fills his book with warm memories, funny anecdotes, and a behind the scenes look at the game during its golden era.

[Chip Rickard]

Good book about a bygone era in MLB. DiMaggio tells about the 1941 season where his teammate Ted Williams was bidding to be a .400 hitter and his brother Joe was on his way to a 56 game hitting streak. There's a bit of old man yelling at a cloud in there but I think he tried to show how great the players of his own era were and how much fun they had playing the game.

[Anthony Mazzorana]

One of the books that first got me into reading when I was a teenager. Wonderful. I remember feeling like I could smell the grass and pine tar. I just wanted to stay in my room all day and read.

[Charles]

The major league baseball season was memorable for two primary reasons. The first is that there were two outstanding performances that may never be equaled. They are the 56 game hitting streak by Joe DiMaggio and the 0.406 batting average by Ted Williams. The second is that it was the last season before the United States entered World War II. Major league baseball was changed after the war, much of which reflected changes in the country.
Dom DiMaggio is uniquely qualified to tell this story, he is the brother of Joe DiMaggio and played in the Boston Red Sox outfield alongside Ted Williams. Joe played for the New York Yankees, so they often played against each other during the course of the season.
Dom provides a brief background on the DiMaggio family, including his brother Vince that also played in the major leagues. His portrayal of the often volatile Ted Williams is very soft, he defends Williams in pointing out that he was such a natural athlete and his stride was so smooth that it did not seem that he was running at full speed. Dom also defends Williams’ skill as a fielder, noting that his bad rap was often slanted because he was such a natural hitter.
Dom also is honest about how the owners treated players back then, specifically in the area of pay. It was incredibly low and sometimes players faced a pay cut even after a very good year. From that, one can see how there was a pent-up bitterness among the players about the extent of their exploitation.
This is a look back at what was a golden time for baseball and the country. In 1941, America understood the stakes of the war in Europe, yet the population simply didn’t want to be bothered. Baseball was a national obsession and in 1941, there was a lot to be obsessed about.

[Dave Estela]

Excellent book by Joe DiMaggio's brother Dom who was also a major league player who played over ten years for the Boston Red Sox. Describes the 1941 season in which Joe DiMaggio hit in a record 56 straight games - still a record - and Dom's teammate Ted Williams became the last man to hit over .400 (.406). He also tells of other players who played prominent roles during that year, all the while awaiting a call from the draft board as World War Two was approaching. Great book for any baseball fan who appreciates the players from the past who were the building blocks to today's game.

[Kristen]

This book is an account of the 1941 baseball season from Dom Dimaggio (and actual author, Bill Gilbert.) This is an interesting season as it was the year of the last .400 hitter (Ted Williams) and it was the year of Joe Dimaggio's 56 game hitting streak. Of course Dom was Joe's brother, and he was Williams' teammate in the Red Sox outfield so he had a ringside seat for both accomplishments. The 1941 season was also the last before America's entry into WW II.

[Jessi]

What a gem! Even 2 generations removed from the 1941 baseball season, the names & accomplishments sit in my head & heart like a catechism, as they should for any deep baseball fan. Dom claims that 1941 was the last "original baseball season" and he's right. Today's game isn't the same, and is even more different than it was in 1990 when the book was written. But that history which is set upon unattainable pillars is why baseball endures.

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov]

Dom DiMaggio was known as "the little professor" because of the way he looked in glasses. This book shows his writing skills merit that sobriquet. Ted Williams notes in the introduction that DiMaggio could have taken the easy route of writing an autobiography. Instead, he looks at a particular point in the history of baseball that might have been the pinnacle of that era. And, he puts it in the context of everything else that was going on in America and the world in 1941.

"Here are some of the things that make 1941 so special:
. The home team always wore white, and the visitors were in gray. It was a game that was in many ways unrecognizable by today's standards:
• Barely half the major league teams had stadiums equipped with lights for night games, and no team played more than a few.
• There were no games on television.
• Teams traveled by train, creating a closeness among players not allowed by today's air travel.
• No team had moved to another city since 1903.
• Only twelve American cities had major league teams, with St. Louis the farthest west. There were no major league teams in Canada or California or Texas.
• There were no black players.
• There was no indoor baseball played on fake grass.
• There were no agents, million-dollar salaries, multiyear contracts, or players deciding for themselves where they will play next year.
• There were no player strikes or owner lockouts.
• Drugs had not surfaced as a serious problem, although alcohol was always a concern. Smoking and chewing tobacco were commonplace.
And there were no padded fences or warning tracks..."

Not only does DiMaggio place that year of baseball in historical context, he gives us access to a host of players - their life-styles and thoughts on the game. We also get the insights of a great player who has a love for his profession and the game of baseball. It's amazing how much the game has changed but this book makes anyone who loved the movie Field of Dreams (Shoeless Joe) feel right at home

[Don Heiman]

Former Boston Red Sox Centerfielder Dom DiMaggio with Bill Gilbert released in 1990 “Real Grass, Real Heroes”. This wonderful book profiles the legendary 1941 Major League Baseball season, and how the players were impacted by the American entry into World War 2. The book describes Ted Williams’ .407 batting average season, Dom’ brother Joe DiMaggio’s 56 continuous game hitting streak record, and Vander Meer’s back-to-back no hitters, plus many more records set in 1941. I especially enjoyed the book’s descriptions of the ‘41 Yankee/Dodger World Series. This book is written in the first person by a player who has an amazing “insider” storyteller perspective. Dom put me in the present moment of a baseball season I will long remember. (p)

[Luigib]

The real Dimaggio hero- loved by teammates, family, and fans.