Joe DiMaggio was Better Than Mickey Mantle

LG, I always love your stuff...you know that right?

DiMaggio was the Derek Jeter of his generation - the guy who got all the credit for what everyone did around him (and the legends/torch passed down to him) and for the simple fact he was a Yankee.

DiMaggio was certainly a better ball player than Jeter, but put them both in K.C. or Pittsburgh or whathaveyou and they are NOWHERE near the respected players everyone wants to make them out to be.

'56 games in a row' is the MOST overblown record in sports - 1. He went oh-fer in an exhibition game in the middle of it - 2. Ted Williams had a better AVG during the SAME season - by far. I'll take a season over a streak ANY DAY. 3.- look at what DiMaggio did that season BESIDES the "streak"...

DiMaggio was a slow runner and an over-rated fielder - he had so many assists because baserunners TRIED to run on him.

All he did was not strike out. I'll take Mantle 100 times out of 100 over DiMaggio.

If Mantle had DiMaggio's health and LUCK - or a decent team around him in his waning years... what about that one?

Drunk Mantle, Old, broken down Mantle, No knees Mantle, First base Mantle. I'll still take him over "the legend without a cause"

DiMaggio was more myth than reality.

B-R has a cool feature where you can "neutralize" a player's stats for park and era -- it's not saying what a player "would have done" in that circumstance, mind you, but it basically accounts for differences in the way the game was played in certain seasons and ballparks (and, yes, Mantle and JD played in different eras). Anyway, here's DiMaggio's career record, "neutralized" to a 750-runs-per-team (4.63 rpg) environment:

Year Ag   G    AB    R    H   2B  3B   HR  RBI   BB   SO   SB   Avg   OBP   SLG   OPS   RC  ActG
+-------+----+-----+----+----+----+---+----+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+
1936 21  144   645  116  195   42  14   27  110   23   41    4  .302  .330  .536  .866  113  138
1937 22  156   624  137  205   33  14   44  151   61   38    3  .329  .393  .638 1.031  155  151
1938 23  150   601  114  183   30  12   30  124   56   22    6  .304  .366  .544  .910  120  145
1939 24  128   481  103  176   32   6   30  121   52   21    3  .366  .432  .644 1.076  132  120
1940 25  138   527   94  183   29   9   32  135   62   31    1  .347  .419  .619 1.038  135  132
1941 26  144   560  125  199   44  11   31  128   78   14    4  .355  .438  .639 1.077  156  139
1942 27  162   654  143  208   32  15   23  133   76   38    4  .318  .391  .518  .909  133  154
1946 31  139   542   96  166   23   9   28  113   67   25    1  .306  .385  .537  .922  112  132
1947 32  147   573  114  190   35  11   23  114   72   33    3  .332  .409  .551  .960  129  141
1948 33  161   624  115  199   27  12   41  162   70   32    1  .319  .395  .598  .993  144  153
1949 34   79   283   60   97   14   6   14   69   57   19    0  .343  .456  .583 1.039   75   76
1950 35  145   544  113  160   33  10   32  121   81   34    0  .294  .387  .568  .955  120  139
1951 36  122   441   79  119   24   4   13   78   67   38    0  .270  .375  .431  .806   69  116
+-------+----+-----+----+----+----+---+----+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+
Totals  1815  7099 1409 2280  398 133  368 1559  822  386   30  .321  .395  .570  .965 1593 1736
+-------+----+-----+----+----+----+---+----+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+
/162 G         634  126  204   36  12   33  139   73   34    3  .321  .395  .570  .965  142

And here's Mantle:

Year Ag   G    AB    R    H   2B  3B   HR  RBI   BB   SO   SB   Avg   OBP   SLG   OPS   RC  ActG
+-------+----+-----+----+----+----+---+----+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+
1951 19  101   359   67   96   12   5   14   71   45   78    8  .267  .349  .446  .795   56   96
1952 20  149   598  117  200   43   8   27  108   88  117    5  .334  .420  .569  .989  143  142
1953 21  136   501  120  152   27   3   23  105   88   97    9  .303  .407  .507  .914  104  127
1954 22  153   582  153  185   19  14   31  121  116  112    6  .318  .429  .558  .987  139  146
1955 23  155   560  134  182   29  13   43  110  130  102    9  .325  .453  .654 1.107  164  147
1956 24  158   574  143  211   25   6   58  140  126  104   11  .368  .480  .735 1.215  203  150
1957 25  151   526  142  209   34   7   41  111  176   79   19  .397  .546  .722 1.268  209  144
1958 26  157   568  154  191   25   1   51  117  156  125   22  .336  .479  .653 1.132  178  150
1959 27  151   584  120  180   27   5   36   86  109  132   25  .308  .418  .557  .975  135  144
1960 28  160   568  139  169   20   7   47  110  129  131   16  .298  .425  .606 1.031  146  153
1961 29  152   529  141  180   18   7   60  137  139  111   13  .340  .474  .741 1.215  186  153
1962 30  123   394  103  138   17   1   34   95  139   78   10  .350  .519  .657 1.176  135  123
1963 31   65   179   46   60    9   0   17   40   44   32    2  .335  .464  .670 1.134   56   65
1964 32  141   474  103  154   27   2   38  124  108  101    7  .325  .448  .631 1.079  135  143
1965 33  122   373   52  104   14   1   21   55   83   76    5  .279  .409  .491  .900   76  122
1966 34  109   353   51  113   14   1   27   71   67   77    1  .320  .426  .595 1.021   90  108
1967 35  143   465   82  135   21   0   28   72  134  112    1  .290  .446  .516  .962  107  144
1968 36  142   463   80  135   18   1   24   76  139   96    8  .292  .453  .490  .943  104  144
+-------+----+-----+----+----+----+---+----+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+
Totals  2468  8650 1947 2794  399  82  620 1749 2016 1760  177  .323  .450  .603 1.053 2366 2401
+-------+----+-----+----+----+----+---+----+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+
/162 G         568  128  183   26   5   41  115  132  116   12  .323  .450  .603 1.053  155

All I can say is that Mantle was, as the kids say, "teh awesome", while Joe D didn't walk anywhere near as much as the Mick and stole Ted Williams' MVP in 1941. So I'm probably a little biased. But I'd take a .323/.450/.603 line over a .321/.395/.570 one any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Or in this case, Monday.

This is a bit like "Who's better, Alex Ovechkin or Sidney Crosby?" Who cares?! I wouldn't be disappointed if one was on my team and not the other. The Yankees had both of these players on their team, so it's all good!

As outfielders when both were in their primes, Mickey was one of the best until his knee went out. And according to the story in the New York locker room Joe should have said something to Mickey when he was running in to make the catch. There was a real underlying dislike for Mantle from Joe that I believe lasted until Joe died. These were teammates and should have been together on a lot of things in the locker room, but as usual Joe was away from everyone to the side and kind of looked down on Mickey because maybe he thought Mickey was stealing his thunder. He could have lasted a few more years in left or right field but decided to retire for whatever reason. Both of these players were great as complete individual and both had their faults. It is on record that Joe didn't like Ted Williams and I know from my father that Ted wasn't particularly fond of Joe but it would have been great to see all three in the outfield in an all-star game, even if Joe was over 35 he could still play the game and besides look what Ted did after 35. Who was better is always going to be the question asked about all the older and younger players be they in baseball, basketball or football. Same can be said for who was better, Brown or Dickerson or Koufax and Feller or Ruth and whoever. A good reason to have disagreements is comparing any eras now and then. I vote for Mickey because my old man says that Mickey was a better player overall but that they were really different in a lot of ways. The biggest area, according to him, was Mickey was a switch hitter and that gave him a real advantage running from home to first and he had a lot more power at the plate than Joe did. The figures in a way kind of support that but Joe was extremely smooth in the field and at the plate. Mickey Mantle or Joe D. take your pick....

I admire Mickey Mantle more because he battled through injuries from the beginning of his career. He was admired by many because of his humbleness and work ethic. If I were a coach I would rather have Mantle on my team because he is a team player. Dimaggio's numbers are certainly great, but for the most part of his career he was more occupied with himself rather than the team.