Nadal’s Imminent Retirement Explained by DiMaggio

By Scoop Malinowski

Retirements of sporting icons is always a sensitive, intriguing, dramatic process. It’s not only the metaphorical death of a hero in the arena, it’s much more than that.

Nobody ever wants to stop what he or she loves doing. Nor does the audience or the business itself. Rafael Nadal is at the end. He still has unfinished work ahead but Novak Djokovic’s 24 is out of his reach and he can’t produce any more tennis magic.

The baseball king Joe DiMaggio was considered the greatest player of his time. Last week I chanced upon his incredible book “Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio?” by Maury Allen and noticed the parallels of DiMaggio and Nadal. Like Rafa, Joe was a phenomenon. The kid from San Francisco would win nine World Series with the New York Yankees and engineered the still standing record of hitting in 56 consecutive games. He studied, lived and breathed baseball and was driven to be the best he could be, carrying himself with pride and honor. The press called him “America’s Last Hero.”

But DiMaggio’s all out running and hitting style eventually took a toll and back, foot, shoulder injuries restricted his abilities. After 13 seasons in 1951, The “Yankee Clipper” knew it was over. The Yankees offered “Joltin’ Joe” another contract for 1952 for big money, over $100,000 but he declined because he didn’t want to come back as a part time player. “If he couldn’t play ball the way people expected, then he was going to end it. He just wouldn’t come back so he could take the money. He had to earn every penny we paid him.”

DiMaggio could have played another year or two but “he quit because he wasn’t Joe DiMaggio anymore.”

A teammate Hank Bauer said: “You never really think of a great player like that ever quitting. Somehow you think guys like that can go on forever. I don’t know why that is but it is. Everybody knows the end will come but you don’t ever think it will come for guys like DiMaggio.”

Joe told a confidant the truth: “I’m retiring soon. Because I don’t want them to remember me struggling.”

At his final press conference to officially announce the retirement, a reporter asked, “Why are you quitting? The 37 year old answered, “I no longer have it.”

“I feel like I have reached the stage where I can no longer produce for my club, my manager, and my teammates. I had a poor year, but even if I had hit .350, this would have been my last year. I was full of aches and pains and it had become a chore for me to play. When baseball is no longer fun, it’s no longer a game, and so, I’ve played my last game.

Today Rafael Nadal, age 37, is in the shoes of Joe DiMaggio. Trying to figure out how to say goodbye to the sport he ruled, reigned and rampaged for two decades, with a style and energy and unstoppable spirit no one will ever forget.

ATP · Joe DiMaggio · New York Yankees · Rafael Nadal · Roland Garros

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