Joltin' Joe & Big John

The great Joseph Paul (Joe) DiMaggio, a man who had not been looking his best, was at last coming up to snuff. For the first time in seven seasons, his name topped all American League batsmen--with a .361 average. Last week in St. Louis, Joe banged two homers in two days.

Joe had started the 1947 season with a sore heel and a special bat. When the heel got better, so did his hitting. The bat, one ounce lighter than the one he used last year, got bruised and discolored. Joe nursed it tenderly. He heated the bat and then melted powdered rosin into it, to keep it from splintering. The bat broke last week in Detroit, but the New York Yankees were ready to buy him a hundred more just like it. For the Yankees, who were breathing hot on the necks of the league-leading Detroit Tigers, it was like the old days--when bleacherites chanted a song called Joltin' Joe DiMaggio.

Said smiling Joe DiMaggio, at 32 an old hand at ups & downs: "Rogers Hornsby once said he'd rather be lucky than good. . . . Luck is the big thing."

DiMaggio's comeback had taken some of the headlines away from another New Yorker with a talented swing: balloon-faced Big John Mize of the Giants, who was leading both leagues in home runs. Big John was one reason why the amazing Giants were battling for first place in the National League, after finishing last in 1946. Unlike DiMaggio, who tries to outguess the pitcher, Mize's theory is that "a guy does a lot better if he goes up there not thinking about anything." Last week Big John spat some tobacco juice into the dirt and, without thinking of a thing, banged Homer No. 15 into the stands, with the bases loaded.

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