On December 11, 1951, Joe DiMaggio officially retired as a member of the New York Yankees with 361 home runs and an average of .325 after 13 seasons.
Joe was the:
Fastest player to reach 200 RBI in his career (201 games)
Fastest player to reach 300 RBI in his career (297 games)
Fastest player to reach 400 RBI in his career (396 games)
Fastest player to reach 500 RBI in his career (505 games)
Fastest player to reach 600 RBI in his career (604 games)
Fastest player to reach 700 RBI in his career (693 games)
Fastest player to reach 800 RBI in his career (803 games)
Joe was almost traded for Ted Williams who was a 17-time AL All-Star, a two-time AL MVP, a six-time batting champion, a four-time HR champ, a four-time RBI champ, and a 10-time OPS leader.
Connecting Joe DiMaggio to Ted Williams
Joe DiMaggio played with Joe Gordon for the 1940 New York Yankees
Joe Gordon played with Lou Boudreau for the 1947 Cleveland Indians
Lou Boudreau played with Ted Williams for the 1952 Boston Red Sox
HOFer Joe Gordon was the 1942 AL MVP.
HOFer Lou Boudreau was the 1948 AL MVP.
On July 14, 1946, Boudreau was Cleveland’s player-manager. He had become the player-manager in 1942, at the ripe old age of 24. Cleveland was playing a twin bill at Fenway that day. In the opener, Boudreau went 5-for-5 with four doubles and a homer. Williams went 4-for-5 with three homers, all to right field. Boston won 11-10. In between games, Boudreau came up with the famous Williams shift, more often called the “Boudreau shift.”. When Williams came to bat with the bases empty, Boudreau yelled, “Yo,” and all the fielders shifted to the right side of the field. Williams laughed, got back in the box, and promptly grounded out to Boudreau, playing in the second baseman’s position.
Cardinals manager Eddie Dyer developed his own version of the shift and used it with great effectiveness against Ted in the 1946 World Series, won by St. Louis in seven games. In that Series, Williams hit .200 (5-25).