I couldn’t wait to read a new book called Dinner with DiMaggio by Dr. Rock Positano. The author is a New York podiatrist I consulted in the early 1990s for an excruciating heel injury I got from jogging on the sidewalks of New York. A specialist in non-surgical treatment of foot and ankle problems, Dr. Positano said I had plantar fasciitis, a common foot injury among runners. His treatment, which worked wonders, involved anti-inflammatories, foot massages and stretches, and orthotics. And more importantly, he told me to always wear cushioned shoes that have slightly elevated heels; shoes with recessed heels or flat shoes - even flat running or walking shoes -- were no-no’s. I took his advice and the problem has never returned.
The other reason I was excited about reading Dinner with DiMaggio (which was co-authored by Dr. Positano’s brother John) was that during one of my appointments with Dr. Positano, I found myself in the same room with Joe DiMaggio, my childhood sports idol!! I was thrilled at this serendipitous meeting, and knowing his reputation as a very private person, I shyly said “Hi”. He politely acknowledged me with a nod and smile. Mr. DiMaggio was being treated for a different heel problem, chronic pain from a botched surgery that had ruined his baseball career. Dr. Positano’s treatment plan not only worked for me, but apparently for Joe as well! They became friends, dining and partying together whenever the “Yankee Clipper” (aka “Joltin’ Joe”) was in New York.
These get-togethers and their evolving friendship are chronicled in Dinner with DiMaggio. They bonded in part because they both came from immigrant Italian families. The book is chock full of delightful stories about Joe Di’s love of Italian food, fine restaurants, and baseball, as well as details of his marriages, divorces, estrangement from his son, and close relationships with his grand- and great-grandchildren. You don’t have to know or care about baseball to enjoy this book because it’s DiMaggio’s personal story and personality traits (both good and bad), and his relationships (both good and bad) that drive the narrative. It also gives the reader a glimpse into what it’s like to be a universally recognized celebrity trying to maintain a normal life while dining out in coffee shops as well as the best restaurants and night clubs in New York, where he was inevitably approached by fans. Of course there was nothing normal about his life; after all, he was not only the most famous baseball player in the world, he had been married to Marilyn Monroe, something this shy, reserved man didn’t like to talk about even to the “Doc”, as he called Positano. (It was 2 years before Doc was allowed to call DiMaggio “Joe”).
As their friendship developed, Joe opened up about his relationships and run-ins with such celebrities as Frank Sinatra, Charlie Chaplin, Henry Kissinger, Isaac Stern, Archbishop Sheen, the Kennedy family, and Charlie Rose, among others. But Marilyn Monroe remained a taboo subject. After many years, however, DiMaggio finally discussed his marriage and divorce from Marilyn, the love of his life.
During their friendship, which lasted for 9 years until his death in 1999, DiMaggio became Positano’s biggest fan, not only including him in his renowned circle of friends, but referring many of them to him for their foot problems. Because DiMaggio finally got relief from his career-killing botched surgery, he constantly encouraged Positano to promote his non-surgical techniques not only for heel spurs and plantar fasciitis, but bunions, hammertoes, Achilles tendonitis, and Morton’s neuroma (nerve pain on the ball of the foot), among others. Heeding his advice, in 2007, Dr. Positano founded and became director of the Non-surgical Foot and Ankle Service and the Joe DiMaggio Sports Medicine Center at the world-renowned Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. Dr. Positano has dedicated his career to helping patients with foot and ankle problems, helping them avoid painful surgeries, and possibly even more painful recoveries. He also focuses on prevention since many of the foot problems he sees are result of wearing shoes that are too narrow, too wide, too flat, unpadded, or have too high heels. And, according to Positano, foot problems can result in knee, hip and lower back disorders. I’m sure that Joe would proud of him for founding the Non-surgical Foot and Ankle Service and the Joe DiMaggio Sports Center at the Hospital for Special Surgery, and honored to have it named after him. And while Dinner with DiMaggio is chock full of juicy details-- including about his relationship with Marilyn Monroe--it depicts him as an incredibly kind, generous, intelligent, well-read Renaissance man. After reading this delightful, fascinating book, I wasn’t sure what the shy, reserved DiMaggio would have thought of it and of Doc for writing it. So I asked Dr. Positano, who replied, “He would have been happy to know that I was introducing him to a whole new generation of people who were not around to appreciate his place in history or his major contributions to the American way of life.”
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