Friday, May 9, 2014

Joe DiMaggio's HR in "The Stratton Story"

In the movie "The Stratton Story," there is a short clip of Joe DiMaggio hitting a HR in old Comiskey Park against the White Sox. It appears to be footage of an actual game. Does anyone know for sure if this is the case? It looks like a big crowd is at the game. The movie came out in 1949.

 I did find two games that year at Retrosheet when DiMaggio hit a HR at Comiskey that had big crowds. There was also one in 1948. Maybe the studio filmed some footage ahead of time. The clip is only a few seconds long but it looks very good. It was on TV last night.

When I played it in slow motion, I saw a paper bag or some garbage fall out of the lower deck right field stands as DiMaggio rounded third base. I also saw the scoreboard and it says 6th inning.

DiMaggio hit a HR in the 6th inning on Aug 1, 1948 at Comiskey (from Retrosheet). You can also see the scores of other games on the rightfield wall and it shows the Indians getting 5 in the first, 3 in the 2nd and one in the 3rd against the Red Sox. Retrosheet confirms this. It was game 1 of a double header. I think that the movie makers must have taken alot more footage than just DiMaggio's HR. If they did, where is it?

Now that part of the movie was supposed to be Stratton's first year with the Sox (1934). DiMaggio, of course, did not play with the Yankees until 1936.

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