According to Baseball Almanac,
Joe DeMaestri passed away Friday (August 26, 2016). He was 87. Joe was the prototypical "good glove, no hit" shortstop. But, man, was that glove good. Contemporaries generally listed him among the American League's elite shortstops of the day--Luis Aparicio and Tony Kubek.
Joe was born in San Francisco and played in high school and Legion ball. Courted by several teams, Joe signed with the Red Sox because their scout was a family friend. The White Sox grabbed him in the Rule 5 draft and he spent 1951 as a backup infielder for the Pale Hose. He got into 56 games, mostly as a late game defensive replacement, and hit .203. He hit his first major league home run on the last day of the season against Ned Garver of the Browns. Come the off season, Joe was traded to those Browns in an eight-player swap.
The Browns had also brought in Marty Marion, so Joe expected to be the backup again. Rogers Hornsby was the Brownies skipper and his managerial style was appreciated by precisely none of the players. With the team record at 22-29, Hornsby was let go and Marion became the manager. Marion saw Joe as the heir apparent at short, so he got a little more playing time, but never found his groove--neither at the plate nor in the field. At season's end, the Browns traded Joe back to the White Sox. At the request of Paul Richards, Joe attended a pre-spring training workout. A few days later, he was traded to the Philadelphia Athletics.
Joe was still regarded as a backup infielder, but opportunity came a-knockin' in June when starting shortstop Eddie Joost was injured in a sliding play. Joe took the job and never looked back. He held the job for the next 6 and a half years.
On July 5, 1955, Joe became the 34th major leaguer to get 6 hits in one game. In Joe's case, they were all singles. In 1957, Joe was selected for the All-Star game. He didn't get to play in the contest but the A's and Kansas City (where the A's had moved in 1955) held a Joe DeMaestri Day to honor his selection. Joe lead American League shortstops in fielding in both 1957 and 1958.
Joe's hitting had fallen off to .219 in 1958. And Joe entered 1959 thinking it would be his last year. He wanted to spend time with his family and his $15,000 salary was about league average which, having been a major leaguer for nine years, a starter for 7 and an All-Star in '57, seemed a little low to him. So he dropped a few hints that he'd be quitting at year's end. I'm guessing the A's got the hint because they traded him to the Yankees in the Roger Maris deal.
It was only after the trade that the Yankees discovered Joe wanted to quit. The Yankee GM Roy Hamey called Joe and Joe explained that he wasn't making much money. Hamey offered Joe a $5,000 raise. The pot was sweetened by the fact that the Yankees always seemed to make the World Series, so it was like tacking on a $15,000 a year bonus. And, what the heck, Joe had spent his entire major league career with teams that annually fought for occupation of the cellar. Winning might be nice for a change.
What Joe discovered was that playing for a loser was better than sitting on the bench with a winner. In 1960, Joe started just two games. Even as a late inning defensive replacement, Joe only got into 49 games and had only 35 at bats. The Yankees did make the Series, losing to Pittsburgh in one of the best Game 7s ever. Joe got into 4 Series games, going 1 for 2 at the dish.
In 1961, Joe was back where he'd been in '59, figuring this would be his last year. He saw action in just 30 games and was 6 for 41 (.146). He did have a front row seat as Maris and Mantle chased the Babe. And the Yankees were in the Series again--winning this one. Joe was not used at all in the '61 Series and would later say that, had he played at all, he'd have come back in 1962. But Joe didn't want to stay if he wasn't going to play and he wanted to spend more time with his family. So he hung up his spikes and went home.
For years, Joe carried the regret that he hadn't stayed for one more year, as the 1962 World Series featured the home town Giants. His father, who hadn't traveled to them in '60 or '61, could have come to the games.
Joe was also bothered by the fact that he was, now, forever considered a Yankee.
"I played seven years with the Athletics and nobody knows that," he said
in 2007.
"I get letters today, it's all Yankee letters. People want my autograph because I was a Yankee, not because I was an Athletic. I've always been an Athletic. I root for that team like crazy."
There is no shortage of Joe DeMaestri images. Heck, John of Baseball-Birthdays posted an entire
folder of them. And Merkle posted a
nice one around the same time (looks like a Henry Yee offering). The two below, such as they are, are not in the folder, nor do they turn up in site searches. The Yankee image was posted to eBay by seller davemantle. I cropped and removed the autograph on that one. The White Sox image was posted to eBay by seller calibinder. Both auctions were already completed.