Rating: 
Summary: Frightening If True
Review: Joe Dimaggio never wrote an autobiography and the true story is out there somewhere. This could be it. Fascinating and frightening how Dimaggio was portrayed. Cramer ties the Clipper to organized crime, shows Joe as an egotistical player, details the relationship with Marilyn Monroe, and how he was controlled by his agent at the end. What is troubling to me is that you can never tell how Cramer came by the information. Who said what? I saw Joe Dimaggio in person at an autograph show a few years ago. Even though his fees were high, his behavior was not classy to say the least. He was very aloof and would sign autographs on dark areas of pictures (making it hard to see the signature). The way he acted at the show is consistant with Cramer's depiction of Joe in his book. The frightening part is the way Cramer says that he was manipulated by his agent toward the end. Dimaggio supposedly signed baseballs for him in his hospital bed. The agent reportedly removed Joe's World Series ring off of his finger immediately after he died and put it on his own hand. As long as professional baseball has been around, it has always been about the money. Joe was and will always be a hero to many and this book should not change that. However, after reading this, I'm still not sure how much is true. What is true is that Dimaggio was one of the greatest ballplayers of all time and nothing can change that fact.
Rating: 
Summary: An American Biographical Masterpiece
Review: Richard Ben Cramer wrote the greatest book on modern American politics with his extraordinary tome, What It Takes. He continues the his tradition of superb reporting, lucid writing, and an exemplary use of voice-narration in this critical and uncompromising view of The Yankee Clipper. Like What It Takes, I could not put down The Hero's Life. Riveting.
Rating: 
Summary: Another book about a Yankee player.
Review: Like a lot of people in flyover country, I get a little tired of the same old Yankee idolatry. A man like Stan Musial who lived a n honorable life, whose baseball statistics completely ovrshadow those of Dimaggio, was not even elected to the all century team. The committee had to put him on the list. He had not been a Yankee.
Rating: 
Summary: why did we need this book????
Review: DIMAGGIO WAS AND IS MY HERO---- NOT A HERO IN THE SENSE THAT MY FATHER WAS MY HERO- THE SENSE THAT MY TEACHERS WERE MY HEROES BUT HE WAS OUR BASEBALL HERO---WE WANTED TO HIT LIKE DIMAGGIO-WE WANTED TO RUN LIKE DIMAGGIO-WE WANTED TO FIELD LIKE DIMAGGIO--- WHY DID WE HAVE TO READ THAT DIMAGGIO WAS GREEDY AND WHEN GIVEN A NEW CAR DID NOT SAYS THANKS BUT WANTED TO KNOW IF IT WAS FILLED WITH GAS---- WHY DID WE HAVE TO READ THAT DIMAGGIO SOLD HIS WORLD SERIES RINGS-WHY DID WE HAVE TO KNOW THAT DIMAGGIO BEAT HIS WIVES-IGNORED HIS BROTHERS AND SON---WHY INDEED---- WE HAVE SO FEW HEROES WHY DID RICHARD BEN CRAMER DO THIS TO DIMAGGIO- WHY DID HE DO IT TO US---INDEED WHY---- PERHAPS HE DID IT FOR THE MONEY????
Rating:
Summary: Joe dimaggio, the greatest
Review: This is a solid and Nice interesting book that tells the life of Joe D. up until he died. Very Nice.
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary
Review: A revealing book. I share the feelings of Ray Ratto, San Francisco Examiner Sports columnist who wrote this solitary line in his Wednesday, October 16, 2000 column: "Five chapters into Richard Ben Cramer's book, and suddenly DiMaggio Field seems like an extravagant tribute." Ratto is referring to the book's revelations of Joe DiMaggio's unpleasant personality in juxtaposition to the ranting of his estate's watchdog that either the SF airport or the SF-Oakland Bay Bridge be re-named after Joe instead of the City's choice of his run-down boyhood playground. Baseball aside, one can only conclude after reading this book that DiMaggio was an extraordinary jerk.
Rating:
Summary: A Great American Life
Review: As a lifelong New York Yankees fan, I grew up revering Joe DiMaggio. I knew his lifetime statistics, the pitcher he started his epic hitting streak against (Edgar Smith), and the pitchers who ended it (Al Smith and Jim Bagby, with fielding help from Ken Keltner). But it wasn't until reading Cramer's brilliant biography that I realized I didn't know a thing about Joltin' Joe. What a life the man led! And what a portrait of the American Century this book presents. So many of the great national themes make an appearance: immigration, war, Hollywood, the rise of television, the tragedies of the Sixties, the Mafia, privacy v. celebrity-- and linking everything together, the national pasttime, a game this man played better than just about anyone. As the first Subway Series in 44 years gets underway, it's a fitting time to pay tribute to the great, elegant Yankee, a lonely man who made millions happy. Bravo to Richard Ben Cramer for having the talent and the stamina to write such a good book about such a complex man.
Rating:
Summary: dimaggio-the baseball hero
Review: R b CRAMER has a hit on his hands but it was planned that way---according to his interview on the F A N radio station he was approached by his publisher to write about dimaggio---- at least we have a motive why the book about a plain man is so sensational---- glamour - greed- distrust- disloyalty- it sells books---- itr makes money---- i for one am disappointed that our HERO is tarnished after he is not here to rebut----
Rating:
Summary: Great story about a reclusive hero
Review: the first thing you think about when you here the name Joe Dimaggio is 56 game hitting streak. the last thing you want to think is extremely private, cheap, dapper, and reclusive. This is an extremely well written well researched account of the great Joe D's life and times outside of baseball. He was not perfect except on the diamond. Mr. Cramer has painstakingly researched and written about the last true great hero and superstar. Nobady will ever be like him and the only person who can write such is Mr. Cramer. People should buy this book, read over and over again and give it their children and so one. I know I will. The best Baseball Book since Al Stump's book on the great Ty Cobb. Great stories that left me wanting for more.
Rating:
Summary: DIMAGGIO-SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT OR RE-WRITING HISTORY?
Review: ONE OF THE PREMISES OF THE HEROES LIFE is that almost all of the reporters wrote only good things about DIMAGGIO---- for whatever reason the commentators OF dimaggio's DAY WERE AFRAID TO TARNISH HIS IMAGE----even modern day writers such as MIKE LUPICA would see only DIMAGGIOS good face---- BEN CRAMER has no such compulsions in telling us that DIMAGGIO was a flawed man spinkled with hate - distrust- greed and disloyalty----WHY was this book written-Why DO WE HAVE TO KNOW HIS PERCEPTION OF THE MAN WHO WAS OUR LAST BAseball hero --WHY INDEED
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