"Dom’s a throwback to the kind of players we used to have." - Ty Cobb

Dominic Paul DiMaggio, nicknamed "The Little Professor", was an American Major League Baseball center fielder. He played his entire 11-year baseball career for the Boston Red Sox (1940–1953). DiMaggio was the youngest of three brothers who each became major league center fielders, the others being Joe and Vince.

In 1959, DiMaggio joined forces with nine other New Englanders, led by Billy Sullivan, to found and capitalize a Boston American football team that debuted in 1960 as the AFL’s Boston Patriots.

An effective leadoff hitter, he batted .300 four times and led the American League in runs twice and in triples and stolen bases once each. He also led AL center fielders in assists three times and in putouts and double plays twice each; he tied a league record by recording 400 putouts four times, and his 1948 totals of 503 putouts and 526 total chances stood as AL records for nearly 30 years. His 1,338 games in center field ranked eighth in AL history at his retirement. His 34-game hitting streak in 1949 remains a Boston club record.

Dom was voted onto seven All-Star teams and has a .298 career batting average. Writer David Halberstam described Dom as "probably the most underrated player of his day."

The Red Sox have honored Dom by naming the Centerfield Fenway Park flagpole (erected in 1934) for him in 2009.

(excerpted from SABR, BR Bullpen, and Wikipedia)