Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?

[SWC75]

Terry Cashman, the creator of "Talkin' Baseball, which came out 40 years ago, is being interviewed on Orange Nation. He talked about the origin of the tune. he said he had a friend with the Mets who had a photograph of Duke Snider, Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle at an Old Timers Day game at Shea in the 70's, taken from center field with them walking toward home plate with their famous numbers, 4, 5, 24 and 7 on display. Cashman was so measured of the picture that he bought the rights to it and made it his album cover with two exceptions: he colorized it and had Joe removed from the picture because his song was comparing the 1950's, when he grew up to the 1980's, when players were striking for more money when they were already making more than Willie, Mickey and the Duke ever did. Joe had retired in 1951, so Cashman viewed him as a player from a different generation, (as he was). Knowing DiMaggio's hyper sensitivity toward any imagined slight, he couldn't have bene too happy about that.

The original:

The album cover:

 

[SWC75]

The song, which has been said to have "saved baseball" in the wake of the 1981 strike with it's warm historic nostalgia:

Willie, Mickey, and the Duke (Talkin' Baseball) - YouTube

He also recorded a personalized version for each team in baseball at the time.

 

[KaiserUEO]

The song, which has been said to have "saved baseball" in the wake of the 1981 strike with it's warm historic nostalgia:

Willie, Mickey, and the Duke (Talkin' Baseball) - YouTube

He also recorded a personalized version for each team in baseball at the time.

Son of a Bitch...

 

[SWC75]