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Little Dom made his own way
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Forsyth County News
Sad news. Word came Friday that Dominic DiMaggio had passed away. He was 92, and had been fighting pneumonia.

According to his son, Dominic Paul, DiMaggio died about 1 a.m. during a replay of Thursday’s rousing Red Sox win over the Indians. “He was in and out of consciousness,” his son told Mark Pratt of the Associated Press. “But he was acknowledging it. He was a Red Sox fan until the end.”

That’s how it is for members of Red Sox Nation. It’s a lifetime membership. Once a Red Sox, always a Red Sox.

DiMaggio manned centerfield for the Sox from 1940-1953, with a break from ‘42 through ‘45 for service in the Navy. He was a teammate of Sox lifers Bobby Doerr, Johnny Pesky, and Ted Williams.

Their time together spawned a 50-year friendship, eloquently described in David Halberstam’s 2003 book, The Teammates. In fact, when the Sox reached the 2004 World Series, the first pitch honors for Game 2 were shared by Doerr, Pesky, and DiMaggio.

DiMaggio’s teams epitomized the Sox’ 86-year Series drought. They were good clubs, but never quite good enough to win it all. “I regret we didn’t win more than one pennant,” DiMaggio told Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe on the eve of his 90th birthday. “We needed pitching and catching. We never really had an outstanding catcher.”

But they did have an outstanding centerfielder. “The wolves in leftfield were always yelling how he was playing his position —and mine!”

Williams wrote in his autobiography, My Turn At Bat, “He was a great centerfielder.”

Williams also told Mark Feeney of the Globe, “He was the easiest outfielder I ever played with. When he yelled ‘mine,’ you didn’t have to worry about the rest of that play.”

DiMaggio also hit leadoff for the Sox, which might have been the toughest job in baseball. That’s because he was expected to give a complete briefing on the arsenal of that day’s pitcher to Williams, who hit third.

As detailed in The Teammates, as soon as DiMaggio returned to the dugout, Williams began peppering him with questions. “What was he throwing, Dommy? Was he fast? Was he tricky? Was he getting the corners? Come, on, Dommy, you saw him!”

Williams sought information from the right man. DiMaggio, who stood 5’9”, was so smart he earned the sobriquet “The Little Professor.” After his playing days, he became a successful business owner and smart stock player. “That was his passion,” Dominic Paul told Pratt. “He’d watch the stock ticker all day and the Red Sox all night.”

DiMaggio wasn’t a bad hitter, either. He compiled a .298 career average, with a high of .328 in 1950. The lowest he ever hit was .283. At various times he led the American League in triples and stolen bases. During the years he played, he led the majors in hits, was second in runs, and third in doubles.

In 1949, he fashioned a 34-game hitting streak, still the Red Sox team record. Ironically, the streak ended on a fine play by the Yankees centerfielder, Dom’s brother, Joe.

That’s part of the burden Dom had to bear his whole life. His older brother was one of baseball’s greatest players, and Dom played beside one of baseball’s greatest hitters.

In 1941, when Williams hit .406 and Joe hit in 56-straight games, Dom scored 117 runs. A fine total that was third in the league. Behind Williams and Joe.

“It’s been a struggle all my life,” Dom once told the Globe. “I was always Joe’s kid brother. I never encouraged my two sons to get into baseball. I knew it would be twice as hard on them as it was on me. The Joe DiMaggio legend was just too strong.”

But don’t get the wrong idea. Dom loved his brother. “If I happen to be the brother of somebody,” he told Shaughnessy, “I couldn’t think of a person I would like to be the brother of other than Joe.” And that’s not to overlook older brother Vince, who played 10 years in the National League.

DiMaggio also caused one of the most notorious plays in Red Sox history. They lost the 1946 World Series when Enos Slaughter mad his “mad dash” all the way from first to score the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning of Game Seven.

For decades, Pesky was accused of holding Leon Culberson’s relay throw before making his throw home. Culberson was playing only because DiMaggio, who had doubled in two runs in the top of the eighth to tie the score, pulled a hamstring as he reached second base.

“Slaughter never would have scored if I’d been in centerfield,” DiMaggio told Frederick Turner in “When The Boys Came Back.” Slaughter concurred. “If they hadn’t taken DiMaggio out of the game, I wouldn’t have tried it.”

And Pesky never would have spent time in Bucknerland. “I will miss him greatly,” Pesky told Pratt. “He was a great player, and most of all, a great friend.”
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Falcons prove they belong
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Forsyth County News
Okay, this may require some getting used to.

I’m speaking, of course, about the new Atlanta Falcons. You know, the ones who kept getting knocked down and coming back on Sunday. The ones who finally defeated the Super Bowl champion Saints, 27-24, in an overtime delight.

Before we declare the Falcons candidates for this year’s title, let’s recall that they’re just one hideously shanked kick away from limping along at 1-2. And recall that this same crew looked positively forlorn just two weeks ago in Pittsburgh.

That said, there was so much in Sunday’s game to convince you to believe in this team that restraint seems ridiculous. It takes two outstanding teams to wage a game like the Falcons and Saints did. They were so evenly matched that neither could keep the momentum; it kept swinging wildly back and forth.

Surely these aren’t the Falcons we’ve come to know and tolerate over the past 45 seasons. They proved that coming down the stretch last season. Instead of playing out the string, they pushed for their first consecutive winning seasons. In so doing they cemented a mind-set.
Sunday we saw evidence of that throughout 73 minutes of compelling action. The Falcons had every opportunity to pack it in, myriad times. Yet every single time they fought back.

“I told the guys that you’ve got to fight through adversity to win games in this league,” Falcons head coach Mike Smith said in opening his post-game remarks. “I can’t tell you how proud I am of the men in our locker room, and the members of our football team.

“We fought our tails off today. That was a hard fought game. I like the effort our team put out today. I’m very proud of them.”

The perseverance and resiliency demonstrated by the Falcons on Sunday makes them rare birds indeed. Here they were, in the deafening Superdome, facing the champion Saints, and hoping to somehow slow down quarterback Drew Brees and one of the NFL’s best offenses.

So the Falcons opened with a three-and-out, and then allowed Lance Moore (the guy returning punts for Reggie Bush) to motor 72 yards, returning the punt to the Falcon 6-yard line.

But a funny thing happened after the Saints’ predictable touchdown. The Falcons answered. Drove 80 yards in 9 plays. Took 4:49 off the clock. And they started the drive by springing Michael Turner on a 23-yard run.

How’s that for fighting through adversity?

The Falcons would intercept Brees twice — no small feat there — but sandwiched around an 80-yard touchdown pass to that man Moore.

And so, with 11:42 left in the half, the Falcons offense (two possessions, one first down since the touchdown drive) stood up and took over. 70 yards. 20 plays. An incredible 10:39 run off the clock.

“I thought that was not necessarily the turning point, but it was a statement,” declared Smith. “When you talk about controlling the tempo of the football game, that’s at the core of what they [the Saints] want to do. They want to control the tempo with all the groupings and the different looks that they give you on defense.

“We wanted to basically make sure that we controlled the tempo of the football game.”

And therein lies the beauty of this particular game. The Falcons stood up to the champions, didn’t back down, didn’t blink, played their game, imposed their will. They proved they belong on the same field with the Saints.

“It’s a tough loss,” Saints head coach Sean Payton noted in his own post-game remarks. “Credit them. They came in and played a real good game. It was a hard fought win for them. It’s a good team offensively and defensively. We couldn’t get them off the field.”

True enough. The Falcons ran 82 plays, the Saints 56. Though the yardage disparity was negligible (Falcons, 417-398) the time of possession was lopsided for the Falcons: 45:50 to 27:15.

The finish came as no surprise. The Falcons failed to finish their final drive in regulation. They went three and out to start the overtime. Then they let the Saints maneuver into position for Garrett Hartley to blow the winning kick.

And here they came. Pounding. Run after run, ten in all, eight straight to finish the drive, leading to Matt Bryant’s winning 46-yard field goal.

We’ll let the man who did the bulk of the heavy pounding, Michael Turner (30 carries, 114 yards, 1 touchdown) handle the summation. “Every game is a game of momentum. We just went out there and kept fighting,” Turner said in his post-game comments.

“We came into a hostile environment and came away with a nice win. Anytime you do that, it is really special.

“This is a great win for our franchise.”
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