joe d and mickey on sports challenge

[banny]

I've recently been catching some old sports challenge game shows on espn classic. I recently saw one with Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle. Being only 51,I obviously don't remember Joe playing at all and the only thing I remember about Mickey is that he'd get a hit and they'd send someone in to pinch run. The shows were taped in the 70's and you really see the personalities come through. Mickey hardly says a word in his first appearance. He just sits there with a goofy smile on his face. You have to wonder with what came out about his drinking history,if he wasn't drunk on the show.
Joe,meanwhile,has quite a smug look on his face when he is announced as the greatest living ballplayer. Later,when shown a clip of Al Gionfriddo making his famous next to the bullpen,Dick Enberg asks Joe if that was the greatest catch ever against him. Joe answers that "It most certainly was not the greatest catch,but I will say that it was the most important catch he ever made." Seemed like Joe was saying that Al was damn lucky to make a good play against the great DiMag.

[ol' aches and pains]

It was the only important catch Gionfriddo ever made. He would be entirely forgotten today without that catch.