The last couple of paragraphs of former Red Sox great Dom DiMaggio’s obituary in the New York Times today made up as succinct and insightful explanation of how an intense competitor thinks as I’ve ever read. In this case, that competitor is his brother Joe:
“I made two or three catches on Joe that were quite important to him,” he told The New York Times at an old-timers’ game at Yankee Stadium in August 1982 in which he appeared with brother Joe. “One year he was battling Hank Greenberg for the league lead in runs batted in and I caught a long one with the bases loaded for the third out.
“Coming in to the dugout after that catch, I half-glanced at Joe on his way to center field and I could feel the daggers flying my way. Joe always gave me terrible looks when I did something like that, but when he croaked me, he never apologized.”
