Nonetheless, the DiMaggio myth was carried on the shoulders of DiMaggio's game. DiMaggio may not have dominated any one baseball category, but he excelled in them all. Cooperstown's Hall of Fame has selected some players for merely doing one of these things well. DiMaggio was superb at all five. For example, Joltin' Joe swung hard to hit the long ball, yet he didn't strike out, an anomalous combination in baseball.
Most great players perfect one or the other.
Cincinnati Red Pete Rose, one of the great hitters of the last 25 years, struck out rarely by not swinging for the fences. The number of home runs and strike outs by Babe Ruth were both prodigious. Until his last year, DiMaggio was more likely to hit a home run than to strike out. In contrast, today's baseball slugger Sammy Sosa strikes out about three times for every home run he hits, which is almost expected of many power hitters. DiMaggio's many talents were pushed to their limit by a perfectionist's intensity.