Our MLB Monday column is alive and well during the 2025 postseason, and we continue today with a critical look at the career of Dom DiMaggio—the less-famous brother of New York Yankees god Joe DiMaggio. Interestingly enough, Dom was a seven-time All Star himself, despite playing just 11 seasons in the major leagues thanks to losing three years of his career to military service (1943-1945). Imagine that!

But we digress: three years younger than Joe, he spent his entire career with Yankees’ rival Boston, amassing 33.6 WAR for the Red Sox while posting a lifetime .298 average in the process. This translated to .802 OPS and a 111 OPS+ marks for Dom, which are very respectable numbers although perhaps not really worthy of being named an All Star seven times. He also was a plus defender (3.0 dWAR total) in his career.

So, where to start?

First, we must disclose that our maternal grandfather played baseball in San Francisco with both Joe and Dom, and while that has nothing to do with our piece here today, it is a fun tidbit of history to share. Our grandfather got married in 1934 and lacking the talent of his teammates, he went to work as a civil servant in the Bay Area at that point to support his wife and soon-to-be children (we inherited the wedding ring).

With that out of the way, the fact is that Dom debuted in 1940 for the Red Sox, playing in 108 games while manning all three outfield positions in Fenway, although he primarily occupied center and right; some guy named Ted Williams had left field locked down most of the time. Dom hit .301 with an .831 OPS and a 110 OPS+ mark, so it was clear he had at least some of the immense talent that Joe did—but also not all of it.

That rookie effort (1.8 WAR) was a good foundation, as Dom proceeded to improve to 3.4 WAR (1941) and 5.4 WAR (1942) before needing to go serve his nation in World War II. In his second and third seasons, he had established himself firmly as the center fielder, while also showing a keen eye at the plate that Joe possessed as well: in his first three MLB campaigns, he walked 201 times compared to just 155 strikeouts.

Yet military service deprived him of some prime seasons, his age 26-28 years. However, when he returned from service in 1946, he did not seem to have lost anything: Dom posted 19.5 WAR combined over the next five seasons (1946-1950), as the Red Sox won the 1946 American League pennant and almost did it again in 1948 and 1949, while facing the Yankees dynasty and other contenders of the era. Dom was instrumental.

He never again reach the WAR heights of 1942, but he did lead the AL in both triples and stolen bases in 1950 as an age-33 speedster. He also led the majors in runs that year before topping the AL the next year in runs, too. Dom never hit lower than .283 in an MLB season (1941), which shows a tremendous amount of consistency over the duration of his career, with a peak average of .328 in 1950. He was pretty good, really.

But it’s the All-Star designations we find the most fascinating: 1941-1942, 1946, and 1949-1952. The last two were relatively undeserved as his combined 3.5 WAR in those seasons indicate. However, in the other five seasons where he was selected, Dom averaged 4.2 WAR, demonstrating consistently good play. He really only had the two great seasons—the 5.4 WAR peak in 1942 and the counting-stats brilliance of 1950.

Thus, we feel Dom was a little overrated in a name-association way, yet he also was a pretty good player in his own right—just not a great one, overall. And there’s nothing wrong with that, little brothers … ever.