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WORK TITLE: Dinner with DiMaggio
WORK NOTES: with Rock G. Positano
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: Stony Brook
STATE: NY
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
http://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/John-Positano/2116906857 * https://www.nycgovparks.org/events/2017/05/17/book-discussion-on-dinner-with-dimaggio-with-dr-rock-positano-and-john-positano * https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-positano-b616a129/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Male.
EDUCATION:New York Law School, law degree.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Lawyer, war game developer, radio producer, writer. The Joe Piscopo Show, associate radio show producer; Live from Downtown New York City, associate radio producer; Simulations Publications, play tester.
WRITINGS
Contributor of articles on the military, law, and surfing to LI Pulse, Huffington Post, and New York Daily News.
SIDELIGHTS
Dr. Rock G. Positano and his brother, lawyer and writer John A. Positano, collaborated on the memoir Dinner with DiMaggio: Memories of an American Hero, which chronicles Rock’s friendship with New York Yankees baseball icon Joe DiMaggio. An internationally known podiatrist and sports doctor who specializes in nonsurgical treatment of foot disorders, Rock treated DiMaggio for a heel injury that benched the player in 1949 and forced his retirement in 1951.
Since 1991, Rock has worked at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City, where he is director of the Non-Surgical Foot and Ankle Service. He is also founder and director of the Joe DiMaggio Sports Medicine Center at HSS. With a medical degree from New York College of Podiatric Medicine, Positano also teaches and is a clinical assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medical College. John A. Positano is a lawyer, radio producer, war game developer, and writer. He is associate producer of The Joe Piscopo Show and the weekly Live from Downtown New York City radio shows. He holds a degree from New York Law School and has argued federal cases. He also writes articles on the military and law for such media outlets as LI Pulse, Huffington Post, and New York Daily News.
Forty years younger than DiMaggio (1914–1999), Rock was his confidant during DiMaggio’s final years and served as his dinner companion, wingman, and go-between. Rock describes how the typically private baseball icon was a mentor who shared with him stories of Lou Gehrig, Joe Louis, and Mickey Mantle; discussed his romantic life and issues of faith, politics, and family loyalty; and spoke about his friend turned enemy Frank Sinatra and ex-wife Marilyn Monroe. Rock also delves into DiMaggio’s moodiness, temper, and arrogance. Falling short of hero worship, “the narrative provides wonderful glimpses of DiMaggio’s integrity, kindness, and sensitivity,” according to a Publishers Weekly reviewer, who added that Rock portrays DiMaggio as a complicated man who jealously guarded his image.
With the help of John, Rock “renders a wholly human portrait of an American icon navigating his way through an adoring yet relentlessly demanding public,” noted Alan Moores in Booklist. A writer in Kirkus Reviews contended that the book will have the most appeal to baseball fans and that “the sections that explore DiMaggio’s mean streak and inflexibility are diluted by Positano’s interjections of the great man’s virtues.” Acknowledging that readers don’t have to be baseball fans to enjoy the book, Karl Helicher said in Library Journal that the memoir “explores such universal themes as friendship, celebrity, aging, and mortality.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, May 1, 2017, Alan Moores, review of Dinner with DiMaggio: Memories of an American Hero, p. 50.
Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2017, review of Dinner with DiMaggio.
Library Journal, April 1, 2017, Karl Helicher, review of Dinner with DiMaggio, p. 90.
Publishers Weekly, March 13, 2017, review of Dinner with DiMaggio, p. 73.
ONLINE
Kirkus Reviews Online, https://www.kirkusreviews.com (February 13, 2017), review of Dinner with DiMaggio.
It’s about the Money, http://itsaboutthemoney.net (May 8, 2017), review of Dinner with DiMaggio.
John A. Positano, Esq., is associate producer of The Joe Piscopo Show, which airs daily on AM970, and the weekly Live From Downtown New York City. He graduated from New York Law School. In addition to arguing federal cases, he has written articles on the military, law, and surfing for the LI Pulse, Huffington Post, and Daily News (New York). He lives near Stony Brook, New York.
John A. Positano, Esq. is a long time “war gamer,” including frequent stints at the now fabled “Simulations Publications” as a play tester, more recent involvement with the West Point War Game Conventions and nearly forty years in that hobby. He helped to develop the war game hobby as an adjunct of military planning. He is also an author of a movie treatment on the Italian Campaign of World War Two, which treatment was sold to a major movie producer. He is also a contributor to the New York Daily News.
Dinner with DiMaggio: Memories of an American Hero
Alan Moores
113.17 (May 1, 2017): p50.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
* Dinner with DiMaggio: Memories of an American Hero. By Rock Positano and John Positano. May 2017.302p. Simon & Schuster, $26 (9781501156847); e-book (97815011568611. 796.35.
Rock Positano's unlikely friendship with Joe DiMaggio began in 1990, when the 32-yearold podiatrist successfully treated, without surgery, DiMaggio's famously damaged right heel--an injury that sidelined the Yankee legend for some 65 games in 1949 and led, in no small part, to DiMaggio's early retirement in 1951 at age 36. Positano would soon earn DiMaggio's confidence, then love and respect, becoming his frequent New York dinner companion, wingman, go-between, and, ultimately, biographer until DiMaggio's death in 1999. If DiMaggio was publicly discreet on pretty much every subject--and Positano maintained that discretion throughout their friendship--he's positively loquacious here in confiding to Positano his thoughts on everything from his split with Marilyn Monroe (he wanted kids, and she couldn't have them) to Bill Clinton (not a fan), Frank Sinatra (friend turned enemy), Mickey Mantle (DiMaggio decried his successor's wasted talent), how to play the game right, even al dente pasta (not a fan of that, either). Positano, helped by his brother John, renders a wholly human portrait of an American icon navigating his way through an adoring yet relentlessly demanding public. Turns out DiMaggio had a sense of humor, too, as when he remarked to Positano, upon passing a large Manhattan billboard of Monroe clad in tight jeans: "I've got to tell you she looked a helluva lot better with the jeans off than she did with the jeans on."--Alan Moores
Moores, Alan
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Moores, Alan. "Dinner with DiMaggio: Memories of an American Hero." Booklist, 1 May 2017, p. 50. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA495035022&it=r&asid=3fb1cb14be5a819be134bed57c10782a. Accessed 8 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A495035022
Helicher, Karl
Library Journal. 4/1/2017, Vol. 142 Issue 6, p90-90. 1/5p.
DINNER With DiMaggio: Memories of an American Hero (Book)
POSITANO, Rock
DIMAGGIO, Joe, 1914-1999
Positano, (director, Non-Surgical Foot & Ankle Svc., Hosp. for Special Surgery) treated Joe DiMaggio (1914–99) for the heel injury that prematurely ended his career with the New York Yankees in 1951. Despite their more than 40-year age difference, the two became best friends. Here, the author shares funny and poignant stories about their lives, including DiMaggio’s personal codes of la bella figura (cutting a beautiful figure) and being a stand-up guy. However, this is no hagiography, as DiMaggio’s moodiness, temper, and judgmental arrogance are displayed. Yet, those qualities are balanced by a softer side, which shows his loyalty and devotion to family. Memorable tales include DiMaggio lamenting his loss of sexual prowess, awing a crowd, in his 80s slashing line drives to the outfield, and the bittersweet final dinner the men shared a few months before DiMaggio died from lung cancer. VERDICT Readers do not have to be baseball fans to be captivated by this memoir, which explores such universal themes as friendship, celebrity, aging, and mortality, and will appeal to admirers of Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie. [See Prepub Alert, 12/5/16.]
Publishers Weekly. 3/13/2017, Vol. 264 Issue 11, p73-73. 1/6p.
DINNER With DiMaggio: Memories of an American Hero (Book)
POSITANO, Rock
POSITANO, John
DIMAGGIO, Joe, 1914-1999
NONFICTION
Unassuming Manhattan podiatrist Rock Positano considers his close friendship with baseball icon Joe DiMaggio (1914–1999), which lasted through the Yankee's last decade. Positano notes that the relationship started with his treatment of DiMaggio's damaged right heel, an injury that benched him for 65 games in 1949 and forced his retirement two years later. He falls short of hero worship as he sums up the tale of "the Yankee Clipper," the son of a San Francisco fisherman, who became one of the greatest players in baseball. There's never any doubt about the doctor's admiration for DiMaggio as a man of honor, who spoke frankly to his pal about people such as Lou Gehrig, Joe Louis, Mickey Mantle, Frank Sinatra, and the Kennedys, Hollywood, as well as topics such as women and faith. The narrative provides wonderful glimpses of DiMaggio's integrity, kindness, and sensitivity, portraying him as a complicated man who jealously guarded his image. (May)
DINNER WITH DIMAGGIO
Memories of an American Hero
by Rock Positano & John Positano
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KIRKUS REVIEW
A remembrance of the baseball great’s final decade, from his friend and doctor.
The relationship between Joe DiMaggio (1914-1999) and podiatrist Rock Positano—a professor at Weill Cornell Medical Center and director of the Joe DiMaggio Sports Medicine Foot and Ankle Center—began in 1990 with a medical referral. As a star outfielder with the New York Yankees and during later decades as a global celebrity, DiMaggio experienced constant pain from a bone spur in his heel. Positano got drafted to treat the ailment when he was 32 and DiMaggio was 76. A friendship seemed unlikely, partly because doctors and patients rarely bond socially but mainly because DiMaggio was famously private about his personal life—with good reason given the countless celebrity seekers who worshipped professional baseball players, not to mention the former husband of Marilyn Monroe. However, as the author writes, he became one of DiMaggio’s few confidants regarding his two failed marriages, his troubled son from his first marriage, the baseball people he respected and disrespected, his political beliefs, his distress at individuals who failed to dress properly or show old-fashioned courtesy, and much more. For readers who already admire DiMaggio, Positano’s overly celebratory memoir will have much to offer. For others, the presentation may be grating, as the author’s name-dropping never ceases, and the sections that explore DiMaggio’s mean streak and inflexibility are diluted by Positano’s interjections of the great man’s virtues. “Accompanying him to all sorts of events,” writes the author, “I saw a stunning array of famous, rich, powerful people who were in awe of him and wanted to get close to him. The intensity of their admiration surprised me.”
Baseball fans will savor DiMaggio’s views about Ted Williams, Pete Rose, and many other famous players; Marilyn Monroe fans will find less of interest. As for other potential readers, the appeal will be limited.
Pub Date: May 9th, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5011-5684-7
Page count: 320pp
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 13th, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1st, 2017
Book Review - Dinner With DiMaggio
May 8, 2017 Paul Semendinger
Dinner With DiMaggio is a thoughtful 350 page compendium that chronicles the last ten years of Joe DiMaggio's life as seen through the eyes of Dr. Rock Positano, DiMaggio's best friend in New York City during that period.
The book is, at once, touching, informative, revealing, and brutally honest. The reader gets a feel for who Joe DiMaggio was as a person, and aging legend, during his golden years. Through the text, the reader begins to understand what drove DiMaggio to be the great ballplayer that he was, and how, through his own exacting standards, he maintained his public dignity and revered status as an American icon through to the very end.
The author, Dr. Rock Positano, became Joe DiMaggio's trusted friend and confidant after helping DiMaggio get relief from the heel pain caused a premature end to his playing career. decades earlier. As their friendship grew, DiMaggio opened up with Dr. Positano about aspects of his life that this reviewer had never known despite being a long-time and extremely well-read follower of the New York Yankees.
While the book does not focus specifically on Joe DiMaggio's playing days, Dinner With DiMaggio does share recollections about some of the players and events that shaped DiMaggio's career. This reflection is not a play-by-play of the famous games or pennant races that DiMaggio was part of, rather, the reader is brought back to those times through various anecdotes about specific players. Dr. Positano maintained extensive notes from each visit with DiMaggio and he draws upon those notes as he shares Joe DiMaggio's personal feelings about players such as Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Phil Rizzuto, Lefty Gomez, and Yogi Berra. The only modern day Yankee discussed in this book is Derek Jeter. The text also discusses DiMaggio's opinions of both Ted Williams and brother Dom DiMaggio, both members of the rival Red Sox during Joe DiMaggio's playing days. The book is worth reading just to understand some of what DiMaggio had to say about these baseball legends. Some of DiMaggio's thoughts and perspectives are, to say the least, surprising.
Because he was such a popular figure, who also happened to be married to the legendary Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio also had personal connections with all sorts of celebrities from the past sixty years. The reader is taken to Hollywood gatherings with the rich and famous. One gets to know about Joe DiMaggio's relationship with Frank Sinatra. The reader is also brought to chance meetings with other celebrities such as Tom Hanks and Woody Allen to name two.
The author also shares how Joe DiMaggio opened up to him about his relationship with Marilyn Monroe and his first wife Dorothy Arnold, also a Hollywood starlet. In his life, Joe DiMaggio never revealed much of the behind the scenes stories of his relationship with the women in his life, but this book opens the doors to those marriages, at times in intimate detail.
One also gets to catch brief glimpses of Joe DiMaggio's relationships and perspectives on many well known political figures of his day including Presidents John F. Kennedy, George Bush, Bill Clinton, and others such as Henry Kissinger, Rudy Guilaini, and more.
A great deal of the book deals with how DiMaggio had to deal with the fame that followed him everywhere. Positano's remembrances paint DiMaggio as a icon who worked diligently to create and maintain an image of grace and class. While doing this, the author reveals much of what made Joe DiMaggio human. The reader sees the real struggle between DiMaggio's sometimes conflicting desires to be at once both a revered god-like figure and a regular person. One story in particular, which recounts a visit to a old friend in Brooklyn raveged with cancer is particularly poignant and remarkably touching. This reviewer feels that was the most powerful reflection in the entire text.
The book is revealing and sincere. It is clear that Dr. Rock Positano held Joe DiMaggio in the highest regard. Through this book, he brings Joe DiMaggio to life once again. Any fan who wants to know more about Joe DiMaggio would enjoy reading this text. At times this reader felt like a little too much might have been revealed, but it is, all, part of who Joe DiMaggio was.
In the end, it is clear that Joe DiMaggio was revered, cherished, and loved by his special friend Dr. Rock Positano.
Dinner With DiMaggio will be available from Simon & Schuster beginning May 9, 2017. It will be available at book stores and on-line retailers everywhere.