Rating: 
Summary: Pulitzer Prize?
Review: I can't believe (I mean REALLY can't) all the reviews that mention how well-written this book is. I'm 100 pages (maybe 150) into it and am worn out (totally) by all the parenthetical asides. (Check out the excerpt). Somebody! (Anybody)! I'm begging you (Pleading, even) Tell me that Richard Ben (leave off the 'jamine') Cramer at some point (any point) stops with all the asides that are set off with parentheses. Although the information is very interesting (I could almost say 'fascinating') the endless parentheses are infuriating. I'd like to ask the author (and especially his editor) why they couldn't construct a sentence (or paragraph) that would negate (render unnecessary) the use of all the asides.I'm taking all the info in the book (given the fact that all sources are secondary or more) with a grain of salt, but so far I'd say it's a worthwhile read. (I hope the asides go away though.)
Rating: 
Summary: Great Biography
Review: It is hard to get into it in the first chapter. But once you read the second, third, and fourth, it is very hard to put down. This book goes into such detail it is amazing that someone found this out. Everything you would want to know about Joe DiMaggio and some other players is in this book. It is a must read for baseball fans.
Rating: 
Summary: A Major League Biography By Cramer
Review: Richard Ben Cramer has written a very interesting and well-written biography about Joe DiMaggio that is hard to put down. Be warned, however, that much of what is written about DiMaggio will make you realize that he may not have been as deserving of the pedestal on which the American public allowed him to live his life. Rather, Cramer makes DiMaggio less of an icon and more like what the rest of us are -- mere mortals and very human. Cramer certainly gives DiMaggio his due as an outstanding baseball player and worthy of the legendary status he still holds. However, he does not mince words in describing DiMaggio's frailties as a husband and father as well as his self-centeredness and, oftentimes, selfishness as a friend and business associate. While DiMaggio has been loved and worshiped by millions of people for his heroic baseball accomplishments, he appears to have lived much of his private life -- particularly his post-baseball life -- as a lonely and unhappy man. Richard Ben Cramer's "Joe DiMaggio: A Hero's Life" is much more than a biography about a baseball player. It is a book that transcends the game and it's players and very clearly makes evident that the public image created by the media about our heroes may not be true representations of what these people are really like. Much controversy has surrounded this book in terms of the honesty in which Cramer portrays various episodes about DiMaggio's life. Regardless of how much of what is written is true, this is a book that is well worth reading and one I'd highly recommend.
Rating:
Summary: The Daig, not the Clipper
Review: This has proven to be a very controversial book. This DiMaggio might not be the same Yankee Clipper of our sacred memory, but there is no doubt that Cramer knows how to tell a good story. Just be warned that it might not be the story you want to hear. This book is closer in tone to Gay Talese's Dimaggio than to Halberstam's more heroic figure from Summer of '49. Cramer tends to gloss over DiMaggio's sports achievements, spending a good half of the book on the post-retirement years with Marilyn Monroe and a succession of money grubbing lawyers. What you get in the end is a handsome, but grumpy hero who could squeeze a penny till Lincoln screamed. Joe never stopped loving Marilyn Monroe, but he never stopped loving the idea of himself as hero either. To the end of his days he sent roses twice a week to Marilyn's grave and insisted on being introduced as "America's Greatest Living Ballplayer." He could hold a grudge like no one else. He was eternally jealous of Ted Williams. He loved getting stuff for free, and often insisted on it, be it hotel rooms, meals, airline tickets, or box seats at the World Series. One particular image that sticks with me from this book is the garage full of unused golfbags and clubs DiMaggio accumulated from years of celebrity tournaments. When invited to a tournament, he would often insist he was "bringing a friend" so he would be given TWO new bags of clubs, but they all went straight to his garage. More touching is the detail that DiMaggio travelled with a dogeared copy of Hemingway's The Old Man and The Sea in his limo and used to read the old fisherman's musings about "The Great DiMaggio" over and over. Apparently, Joe also liked Paul Simon's song, Mrs. Robinson, tho not at first (his initial reaction was "I oughta sue this guy, I havent gone anywhere!") This is not a great book about Baseball, but it is a gripping picture about a great American Personality.
Rating:
Summary: I'm a Yankee fan who loved the book...
Review: Cramer's portrayal of the man behind the myth is amazing. I found his exploration of the man through stories from friends and acquaintances to be a powerful perspective. The author was careful to explain relationships, and that allowed me to decide how credible each story might be. I was staggered by the tales of Joe's early years with the Yankees - the pressures, the achievements and the glory were all Herculean - and the grace with which the 19 year-old boy handled it all. Beyond the baseball career, there was a man that knew how to be a legend. Anyone who loves baseball, love stories and/or the mad, mad world of capitalism will love this book.
Rating:
Summary: I'D RATHER BE ALONE TOO
Review: Although I enjoyed the book overall, including many of the factual aspects of Joe Dimaggio's baseball career, there are many flaws in Cramer's coverage about Joe's personal life. Joe may have not been a "Phil Donahue" type, but he was not estranged from his brother Dom. In fact, they had an ongoing relationship with no hint of athletic or professional jealousy. And though his relationship with Joe Jr. had certain regrets, his depiction of Joe Jr.s failed career in the foam business was not accurate. Futhermore, with some of today's athletes making 20 million a year, plus endorsements, I can hardly blame Joe for supplementing his one hundred thousand dollar a year income, both during and after his career. He was hardly the first to sell autographs. In fact, I admire his attitude and disdain for people making money off his name. Joe was far from perfect, but compared to some of today's athletes who are repeated drug offenders, assault their own coaches, have multipe children out of wedlock and commit murder, Joe's moodiness was hardly worth focusing upon.
Rating:
Summary: not a perfect book...not a perfect hero
Review: No, the book was not perfect and if we are to believe ten percent of Cramer's portrayal of joltin Joe, Dimaggio was far from perfect expcept perhaps on the field of dreams, the baseball diamonds of the 1930's, 40's and early 50's. As a player, Richard Ben Cramer gives Joe his due and more. Cramer's day to day account of Dimaggio's hitting streak is one of the most compelling and well researched historical sports adventures I've read. Off the field, Cramer presents an eccentric, niggardly, money grabbing opportunist; especially in his later years when he took in huge bucks just signing bats and balls and attending card shows, and all the while never paying his own way and hording his milliions til the end. The pathos are there too. Cramer tells us about Dimag taking in a cool 50 thousand dollars a day signing autographs, while his son was in Las Vegas, homeless and sleeping in the drum of a cement mixer. Marilyn Monroe was a huge part of Joe's life, and certainly demanded and received a lot ink for this book....too much...much too much! Cramer spends far too much time recounting events germane only to Marilyn's life. As a fan of Monroe, I found it interesting reading, butis the glut of Marilyn stuff necessary for this particular biography? No. After Marilyn's death in 1962, the author moves ahead to the late 80's, leaving a void of almost twenty years. Despite the imperfections, I enjoyed the book and recommend it to all, especially baseball fans who enjoy a great sports retrospective.
Rating:
Summary: Every Legend has flaws, and DiMaggio's weren't fatal.
Review: I caught a glimpse of the great DiMaggio at a charity golf tournament in February of 1998. He was chipping his ball out of the sand onto the 18th green. The tournament was full of celebrities. No one batted an eye when Joe Namath or Bill Russell sauntered by, but the aged DiMaggio swinging a golf club drew everyone's attention. "Hey DiMaggio is playing 18!" His swing was weak, he had barely a year to live, but I was taken by the man, who with great effort, raked his own divot, despite the fact that anyone would have jumped at the duty. That was class. He still had it. This book is a long history of why he still had it. It's also a history that makes DiMaggio more human. Like all histories, great men have shadow sides that the public learns about after their deaths. DiMaggio is no different. Many reviewers have opined that Mr. Cramer has tarnished DiMaggio's image, but I think the opposite is true. Cramer has written of a private introverted man who was heartbroken by Marilyn Monroe and never recovered. DiMaggio wanted the security to remain a private man and for that he relied on making money. No shame to make money from one's own name, when one's life achievements make that name so valuable. It's also true that DiMaggio would be fickle with friends. His need for privacy sometimes drove friends away, but that was his right. He might not have been an easy person to know, but that makes him no less heroic to the public at large. He was a model citizen that went to war when his country called. He stayed out of jail, which isn't always an easy proposition for today's athletes. I like DiMaggio even more, now that I have read this well-written biography. I wish MLB was full of guys with his class.
Rating: 
Summary: dimaggio ----defamed
Review: After reading ben cramer's defamation of baseball hero joe dimaggio i felt myself disliking the author more and more with each nasty story he felt compelled to relate for the obvious purpose to evoke the readers emotions---CRAMER misread the reader intelligence--- cramer pulled himself down with each useless negative story- one after the other just in case the reader was a real ......- instead it has become clear that dimaggio's image remains but cramer/ 's image needs repair. If one had any doubt of cramer's motives all doubt was removed when he appeared on brian gumble show and was feed softball questions and related one story after another putting the YANKEE CLIPPER down---he only suceeded in making a fool of himself----IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ A MORE GENTLE BOOK ON DIMAGGIO READ "joe dimaggio- promise" ----
Rating:
Summary: Excellent reporting from a great writer
Review: Richard Ben Cramer has written a book almost as good as his previous work on the 1988 presidential election. Dimaggio's life is carefully studied from extensive interviews and source reviews by the author. A great deal of the book deals with Joe's relationship with Marilyn Monroe and his connection with the sports memorabilia business from 1989 to his death in 1999. The only criticism of the book is it omits a great chunk of Joe's life from Marilyn's death in 1962 to the San Francisco earthquake in 1989. If you are looking for just a sports book this book wouldn't be for you. But if you like biography and an excellent writer this is a good one.
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