Praise for DINNER WITH DIMAGGIO:
“Pries open Joltin’ Joe’s perpetually buttoned-up privacy. . . . A rare, intimate portrait of a man so audacious that he left Marilyn Monroe.” —Sam Roberts, The New York Times
“Dinner with DiMaggio, a memoir of getting to know Marilyn's ex in his last years, written by his doctor and friend, 40 years his junior.” —New York Magazine
“Here’s a fresh, new view of baseball great Joe DiMaggio...Positano shows us a lion in the winter of his last ten years.” —Library Journal (STARRED)
“Positano renders a wholly human portrait of an American icon navigating his way through an adoring yet relentlessly demanding public.” — Booklist (STARRED)
“The narrative provides wonderful glimpses of DiMaggio’s integrity, kindness, and sensitivity, portraying him as a complicated man who jealously guarded his image.” —Publishers Weekly
“His baseball accomplishments, impressive and historic as they are, do not alone explain why DiMaggio's name still resonates as it does. His importance is connected to a particular place and time in the history of the game, and the country. Hemingway referenced DiMaggio. So did Paul Simon. A line from the early 40's song ‘Joltin' Joe DiMaggio’ by the Les Brown Orchestra goes like this: He lives in baseball's Hall of Fame, he got there blow-by-blow, our kids will tell their kids his name, Joltin' Joe DiMaggio. Turns out that was true.” —Bob Costas
“So many special things about Joe DiMaggio are revealed by this book: his love of children, his contempt of pretense, and his iconic place in American history, all brought forth here by his closest friend in New York, Dr. Rock Positano… This is an important book because Joe is the hero we need in these times: Joe, as Dr. Positano shows, did not compromise his principles for political correctness, hurt feelings or the favor of the crowd. He was a true American original.” —Arianna Huffington
In 1990 Dr. Rock Positano, the 32 year-old foot and ankle specialist, met the legendary Yankee Clipper Joe DiMaggio, the pair brought together by a career-ending heel spur injury. After the doctor successfully treated the baseball champ’s heel, an unlikely friendship developed. Though Dr. Positano had never seen the great DiMaggio play, he grew to admire and respect Joe for his dignity, elegance, and lifelong determination to be a role model with a spotless image. DINNER WITH DIMAGGIO: Memories of an American Hero follows the decade-long relationship between the young doctor and the American icon in the last years of DiMaggio’s life. At the start, Joe mentored Rock, but the relationship evolved into a close friendship. Joe grew to rely on his young friend to show him a good time when the Clipper was in New York and enjoy the town that had made him a legend. In time, the famously reserved DiMaggio trusted Dr. Positano enough to tell him personal stories of the people in his life, including Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Muhammad Ali, Sandy Koufax, Woody Allen, and more.
Although nearly 40 years DiMaggio’s junior, Dr. Rock Positano became DiMaggio’s closest friend in New York. In DINNER WITH DIMAGGIO, Dr. Positano reveals the true DiMaggio with his rituals and quirks, a man who compartmentalized his life so that no one had all the pieces of the puzzle. Dinner was sacred to DiMaggio, and there was always a seat at his table for Dr. Positano. The two men shared meals at DiMaggio’s regular restaurants, where Rock was introduced to “The Bat Pack,” DiMaggio’s pals from Westchester. Over the years DiMaggio opened up to Dr. Positano about Marilyn Monroe, but also about his first wife and love of his life, Dorothy Arnold, who broke his heart. DINNER WITH DIMAGGIO brims with revealing stories about his many friends in high places as well as touching stories of his generosity to strangers, especially children.
DINNER WITH DIMAGGIO is an authentic portrait of Joe DiMaggio as told by his closest confidante in New York during Joltin’ Joe’s final years: sometimes demanding, sometimes big-hearted, always impeccable, loyal, and a true stand-up guy. This intimate portrait of one of America’s most enduring heroes shows the very private icon as he really was, while serving up wonderful stories and rare insights about his illustrious friends.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Dr. Rock Positano is the Director of the Non-Surgical Foot and Ankle Service and the Joe DiMaggio Sports Foot and Ankle Center at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, where he has been on staff since 1991. He graduated from Yale School of Medicine, the Department of Public Health, where his thesis on foot health was approved with “Honors and Distinction.” He is a clinical assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medical College. He is internationally known for his non-surgical approach to the treatment of foot and ankle disorders. He lives in New York, NY.
Website:
https://www.hss.edu/physicians_positano-rock.asp or dinnerwithdimaggio.com
John A. Positano, Esq. is associate producer of The Joe Piscopo Show, which airs daily on AM970, and the weekly Live From Downtown New York City. He graduated from New York Law School. In addition to arguing federal cases, he has written articles on the military, law, and surfing for the LI Pulse, Huffington Post and Daily News (New York). He lives in Suffolk County, NY.
ABOUT THE BOOK DINNER WITH DIMAGGIO: Memories of an American Hero
Dr. Rock Positano and John Positano / Foreword by Francis Ford Coppola
TALKING POINTS FOR DINNER WITH DIMAGGIO
Marilyn Monroe and Dorothy Arnold
Joe DiMaggio revealed to Dr. Rock Positano details about his tumultuous relationship with Marilyn Monroe and his painful divorce from Dorothy Arnold, the mother of his only son, who broke his heart. He viewed his divorce as a terrible failure, because he was separated from his only child.
Frank Sinatra
DiMaggio and Sinatra had been good friends. They both came from nowhere to stardom. DiMaggio wanted to sing, and Sinatra wanted to play ball. The one thing that brought DiMaggio and Sinatra together was their love, fear, and concerns for their sons. He and Sinatra often talked about them and how hard it was on their sons to have fathers who cast such a big shadow. His concern for his son only intensified after his very public divorce from Dorothy Arnold. But DiMaggio came to consider Sinatra an enemy because he believed Sinatra had been involved in Marilyn Monroe’s decline.
“A Stand Up Guy”
Both Italian-Americans, Joe DiMaggio and Dr. Rock Positano bonded over their shared heritage and values and their escape from the mean streets of their childhood. DiMaggio confronted many prejudices in his lifetime, and placed great value on trustworthiness and loyalty.
An Insider’s Point of View
Dr. Rock Positano contends that even the best biographies lack the insight of the first-person connection. With more than a decade of direct access to Joe DiMaggio as one of his closest friends in New York City, Positano realized that even DiMaggio’s family knew little about his life. Positano brings an authentic and revealing account to the public narrative of this national icon.
Red Sox Icon Ted Williams
Joe DiMaggio confessed that the two were never the best of friends – on or off the field – but he genuinely respected the fellow baseball superstar and considered him a talented player and a war hero. Despite their intense rivalry, DiMaggio made sure before he died that Williams received the best medical care should the need ever arise.
World War II Regrets
In 1943, Joe DiMaggio was effectively “drafted” to play baseball games for the Army. He was furious that he had been turned down for combat duty. He hated the war, which kept him away from baseball for three years at the peak of his career. To the horror of a brigadier general, he threatened to boycott a game when he heard that soldiers were betting on it. Joe had always been Mr. Clean.
While he was playing baseball for the Army Air Forces, Joe’s father was labelled an “enemy alien.” He was prohibited from fishing, which was his business, and couldn’t go to his restaurant near Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. Enemy aliens had to be a mile away from the harbor. When Joe told Rock this story during the ‘90s, he was still enraged.
His Father’s Request to Throw a Game
Brothers Dom and Joe DiMaggio played each other often – Red Sox vs. Yankees. During one pennant race their father went to Joe and asked him “calm it down a little bit” which Joe understood to mean to throw the game. Joe refused and the Yankees won, ending the Red Sox chance to go to the World Series.
Joe DiMaggio’s Last at Bat
In one of the most touching scenes of the book, after having hot dogs at Nathan’s Famous in Coney Island, Joe DiMaggio and Dr. Rock Positano went to the batting cages so that the Clipper could give his friend batting tips for a charity ball game he had committed to play in. As Dr. Positano had hoped, Joe finally got into the batting cage to show his friend how it’s done. Dr. Positano watched Yankee Clipper, then in his late seventies, hit ball after ball without fail with his disciplined, beautiful, and flowing swing on the Boardwalk in Coney Island. It was Joe DiMaggio’s last at-bat.
