Phenomenal 7" x 9" horizontal news service photo of New York Yankees all-time-great, Joe DiMaggio making his debut plate appearance of the 1938 campaign. DiMaggio had helped the Yankees win World Series championships during both his rookie season of 1936 and the following season of 1937, opting to hold out for more pay heading into 1938. DiMaggio's camp demanded $40k from the Yankees, a far cry from the club's initial off-season offer of $15k. By April 25th DiMaggio and Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert settled on $25k for the slugger who had by that time missed all of spring training and the first several regular season contests.

DiMaggio's welcome return to the Yankees occurred to much fanfare on April 30, 1938 in Washington as press photographers surrounded home plate to document the event. This particular image appeared in the New York Daily News the very next day with a caption that read "Undisturbed by cheers and boos of the crowd, DiMaggio knocks out a single in first trip to plate. Joe scored later on Dickey's double." Photo presents handsomely with pleasingly bright borders and light unobtrusive creasing to corners on the right side. Verso remains clean aside from a touch of light toning in lower-right corner and includes full original paper caption from the Associated Press detailing the moment. Authenticated and encapsulated as a Type 1 photo by PSA/DNA.