York turned its eyes to Joe DiMaggio
During the week, James DeBord directs YorkCounts. At home, he goes to baseball games with his son and joins with his 8-year-old in collecting baseball cards.
Anyway, in pursuit of that hobby, he found out that Joe DiMaggio was a collector, too. Joe had a program that he had picked up at York Area Sports Night in 1974. The question is, why did Joe keep the program?
We’ll let James tell the story:
Our interest has also extended into the history of the game. Last summer I came across a top sports memorabilia auction house near Exton that is basially the Sotheby’s of the baseball/sports world. They do auctions that include Babe Ruth’s Yankees uniform, Lou Gehrig’s bat, and recently they auctioned off the Joe DiMaggio estate. During that auction I bid on numerous documents and letters from DiMaggio’s personal papers that included his World Series ticket order form and numerous publications from events he attended.
Anyway, in one of the lots was a program from the 1974 York Area Sports Night sponsored by the Chamber. It features pieces from the sports editors of the YDR and the Dispatch from that time, as well as profiles from local athletes and community leaders. It was just amazing to me that he kept that program at his house in San Francisco from an event in York in 1974 until his death in 1999. Just one more example of how small the world truly is and why I enjoy the stories that are a part of history.
