Dinner with DiMaggio: Dr. Positano Authors an Illuminating New Book


An illuminating new book has hit the stands, entitled “Dinner with DiMaggio – Memories of an American Hero.” From the perspective of podiatrist Dr. Rock Positano, a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, the book reveals a unique narrative on the life of baseball great Joe DiMaggio.

Dinner With DiMaggio

Dr. Positano, the Director and Founder of the Joe DiMaggio Sports Medicine Foot and Ankle Center at HSS, met Joe DiMaggio in 1990 when he treated the baseball great’s heel spur injury. The two became friends, shared meals together at DiMaggio’s favorite restaurants, and during DiMaggio’s final days, Dr. Positano was DiMaggio’s closest confidante in New York. The many stories that DiMaggio shared with Dr. Positano are relayed in the book, including memories about Lou Gehrig, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, and more.

The Weill family and Jessica M. Bibliowicz are acknowledged in the book, along with a foreword written by Francis Ford Coppola. Among the many positive reviews written on the book, published by Simon & Schuster, the Library Journal states: “Here’s a fresh, new view of baseball great Joe DiMaggio…Positano shows us a lion in the winter of his last ten years.” The book goes on sale May 9, 2017 and it is expected it will be knocked out of the park.

Dr. Positano is also Director of The Foot Center/Sports Medicine, Orthopedic Trauma Service, at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.