"Dinner with DiMaggio" with Dr. Rock Positano and John Positano

 

The real Joe DiMaggio -- remembered by the man who knew him best in the last decade of his life.  Candid and little-known stories about icons from Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, and his Yankees teammates on the field to Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, and other great celebrities off the field.

Dr. Rock Positano, an internationally renowned foot specialist in New York City, was introduced to Joe DiMaggio by Bill Gallo in 1990.  The Yankee Clipper's career-ending heel spur injury and botched surgeries brought them together.  During the time Dr. Positano successfully treated DiMaggio, a friendship slowly developed.  As Dr. Positano would learn, DiMaggio moved carefully and deliberately.

Dinner with DiMaggio follows the story of their friendship from its starstruck beginning through its highs and lows over the next decade.  Forty years younger than DiMaggio, Dr. Positano became like a surrogate son.  Positano's accounts of their times together reveal DiMaggio's many rituals and quirks.  At the pinnacle of his fame, DiMaggio had learned to be guarded and carefully managed his image and private life.  As his trust in his young friend grew, DiMaggio opened up about Marilyn, but also about his first wife, Dorothy Arnold, the mother of his son.  The Yankee Clipper knew everyone, and Positano shares never-before-told stories of famous people DiMaggio admired and those he didn't.

The stories and experiences he shared with Rock Positano comprise an intimate portrait of one of the great stars of baseball and one of the icons of the twentieth century.

Dr. Rock Positano is the Founder and Director of the Non-Surgical Foot and Ankle Service at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, where he has been on staff since 1991.  He graduated from Yale School of Medicine.  Positano is a clinical assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medical College.  He is internationally known for his non-surgical approach for the treatment of foot disorders.

On a May evening, Dr. Rock Positano and John Positano led a compelling Clubhouse conversation.  Pull up a chair at your dinner table and listen in...