Dinner with DiMaggio: Memories of An American Hero was a great read by Rock Positano and John Positano. This book talks about the real Joe DiMaggio by one of the few people who really knew him. There are stories about Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, his Yankees teammates on the field, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, as well as others. These stories are told by Dr. Rock Positano, one of DiMaggio’s closest confidante’s in New York. I enjoyed reading this book and can’t wait to read more by the author.

I was intrigued by this book in the beginning but as the book progressed, I found it had to continue to read. I enjoyed the inside look into the sports icon but with the way the book was laid out with the topics jumping all over I found it hard to follow along.

Dinner with DiMaggio includes candid stories from those who knew him. The book revolves around his relationship with Dr. Rock Positano, a NYC foot specialist. The book goes into some of Joe's rituals and quirks. I was surprised to find out that he grew up in New Haven! He was a very private person and had a life in New York, California and Florida and those lives never intersected. Everyone from each piece of his life only had some pieces of the puzzle, but Rock seemed to know about all of the aspects of his life. There are stories in the book about his relationship with Marilyn Monroe and other great stories from Rock who ended up becoming like an additional son to DiMaggio and spent a lot of time with him and has a lot of really great stories to tell. If you are a baseball fan you won't want to miss the change to read this book.

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review, I was not otherwise compensated.

Joe DiMaggio was more than just a legend in sports. An amazing ball player, he took his role as a model for others seriously. But he was also a celebrity, even people decades too young to have seen him play recognized him.

But he was an intensely private man and existing biographies tend to reflect this because they provide an incomplete picture. Dr. Positano wants to correct this, not by writing a biography but by puttting his memories of Joe Di into a book.

The doctor met the ball payer in the late 1980's when DiMaggio came to him because of heel pain. Positano cured him and a friendship began that lasted for the remaining years of Joe's life. They had many adventures, often over dinner, and those experiences form the basis of this book.

It's well-written and does not avoid Di Maggio's faults and does not portray the doctor in an unrealistic light. So many aspects of DiMaggio's life are covered: his career, his early life, his marriages, and his celebrity.

I loved that it was full of funny and often touching stories. It's a wonderful tribute to a great friend.