As a defensive whiz and stellar leadoff man, Dominic "Dom" DiMaggio helped make the Red Sox one of baseball's strongest teams in the years immediately after World War II. He also devoted his energy to strengthening another passion — the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute — and he was still at it a half century after hanging up his glove.
DiMaggio, a San Francisco native and longtime Massachusetts resident, died a year ago last Saturday at age 92 in his Marion, Mass. home.
Pediatric cancer was almost universally fatal and Dr. Sidney Farber was in his early years of establishing the Boston-based center that would bear his name when DiMaggio last patrolled center field for the Sox in a playing career that stretched from 1940-53 (he missed three years serving in the Coast Guard during World War II). He was one of the early celebrities who focused his energy on helping Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund, and by the time he visited Dana-Farber's clinics in recent years, some childhood cancers had cure rates of 80-90 percent — statistics that delighted the .298 lifetime hitter and brother of fellow big-league center fielders Joe and Vince.
"Dom was instrumental in developing the relationship between the Jimmy Fund and the Red Sox," says Jimmy Fund Chairman Mike Andrews. "As one of the original 'Teammates,' he joined fellow Sox stars Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, and Bobby Doerr by stepping up to the plate during the early years of Dana-Farber's partnership with the team. Dom worked tirelessly on behalf of the Jimmy Fund, and was one of our longest-standing supporters."
DiMaggio's devotion was shared by his wife, Emily, a Dana-Farber Trustee with whom he established the Emily Frederick DiMaggio Lecture series in 1978 — an event that draws leading cancer researchers and physicians to Dana-Farber's campus annually. For years the couple also sponsored the Dom DiMaggio Celebrity Golf Tournament at the Kittansett Club near their Marion home.
As he did on the field, where he was selected an American League All-Star seven times, DiMaggio earned honors for such achievements. In 1995 he and Emily received the Boston Red Sox Jimmy Fund Award for their longstanding commitment to the lifesaving mission of Dana-Farber. And in 1999, he, Pesky, and Williams were honored with the Jimmy Award — given to those celebrities who have shown a particularly steadfast dedication to aiding research and patient care at the Institute.
"He was truly one of our Jimmy Fund pioneers," adds Andrews, "and he will always be a part of the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute family."
