Gay Talese on DiMaggio the Fisherman

It’s hard to believe that Gay Talese was writing eloquently about sports 45 years ago and is still publishing books. His latest, The Silent Season of a Hero: The Sports Writing of Gay Talese, includes a celebrated essay on Joe DiMaggio — who grew up in a family of fisherman on the coast of California — and the transience of fame.
From the July 1966 issue of Esquire magazine: “IT WAS NOT quite spring, the silent season before the search for salmon, and the old fishermen of San Francisco were either painting their boats or repairing their nets along the pier or sitting in the sun talking quietly among themselves, watching the tourists come and go, and smiling, now, as a pretty girl paused to take their picture. She was about 25, healthy and blue-eyed and wearing a turtleneck sweater, and she had long, flowing blonde hair that she brushed back a few times before clicking her camera.”