The Best Voice in the House

Three brothers came out of one working-class house in San Francisco's North Beach, and all three grew up to play center field in the major leagues. That has never happened before or since. All three made All-Star teams. And the brother who got there first, who opened the door for the most famous name in the family, is the one most people have never heard of.

Vince DiMaggio recommended a not-yet-eighteen Joe to the San Francisco Seals in 1932, then watched his kid brother take his job the following spring. He led the National League in strikeouts six times and never cracked the top twenty in MVP voting. But he was a real center fielder with a cannon arm, a two-time All-Star, and in 1945 he hit four grand slams in a single season.

The bit about Vince having the best voice was never a joke. He trained toward opera before he chose baseball, sang arias and love songs in a fine tenor at the family restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf, and Dom always believed his oldest brother had missed his real calling. Vince said it best himself: if he could hit like Joe and Joe could talk like him, they'd have made one great guy.

Joe got the streak, the pennants, and the plaque in Cooperstown. But the DiMaggio nobody remembers is the one who opened the door and had the best voice in the house.