When opening day came in '36, DiMaggio was not able to play. And he missed about the first three or four weeks of the season. And as he missed the season, his final arrival became a more significant event.
Every day people went to the ball park. Is today the day? Is today the day? Are we going to see this kid? Is this kid really going to finally put the Yankee stripes on and get out there and and play in the outfield for the Yankees?
And, finally, late in May against the Washington Senators, he did break in. He broke in with a tremendous game. He got four hits in his opening game. And the, the attention was absolutely enormous. And I think it electrified every baseball fan in New York.
After that single game in that opening performance of his, you heard: "Hey, this guy is what they told us about for a year. This guy is really the goods. And we Yankee fans are going to be in glory again and back to winning again as we expected to win every time Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were on the field together."
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