When did Joe DiMaggio hit against pitcher Guy Bush?

Answer 1

I know nothing about Baseball history. It all started, as I assume this question did as well, with the factoid that is going around "confirming" that....Babe Ruth hit his last home run, and Joe DiMaggio hit his first home run, off the same pitcher. A quick search reveals that Dimaggio hit his first (MLB) homer against George Turbeville of the Philadelphia Athletics on May 10th, 1936. Fine, but Babe Ruth and the Boston Braves were not playing the Athletics or Turbeville the year before, on may 25th, 1935, when he hit his final 3 home runs, all 3 of which came off of Guy Bush of the Pittsburgh Pirates (that last fact was a little tricky to dig up).

So in New York style I says to myself, I says "eh, maybe they didn't mean DiMaggio's first MLB homer, maybe they meant his first minor league?" Nope, Guy Bush had been in the majors since 1923, when he started with the Cubs, so there's no WAY he was pitchin against DiMaggio before Joe was even 10 years old.

So, I debunked the simple fact that Dimmagio did not hit his first MLB homer in '36, or any other homer, off of the same Guy Bush who pitched for the Bambino's last 3 homers the year before.

Then, in my pursuit to get fired, I keep this research up long enough to find this yahoo here asking, "did DiMaggio EVER hit against Guy Bush?" God help me. The short answer is "no". And if you don't believe me, huh, ....

Dimagio's career stats:

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=dimagjo01

Bush's career stats:

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=bushgu01

The only years they both played in the majors were 36-38 (Bush came back after 7 years and played in 45, but Dimaggio was just getting back from the war and suffered ulcers....so he didn't start back up with the Yankees until '46).

The '36 - '38 years are out because Bush's Bees never faced the Yanks in 1936 or '37 regular or post season, and neither did Bush's Cincinatti Reds in '38.

P.S. I'd like to send this out to Mr Newstead, who indirectly started me down this road. I hope it saves another foolish soul the time and satisfaction that came with the answer.