dom dimaggio

Mickey Carroll, one of the last surviving Munchkins from the beloved 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz," died Thursday. He was 89.

He suffered from heart problems and died in his sleep at the suburban Crestwood home of his caretaker, Linda Dodge, she said.

Carroll was one of more than 100 adults and children who were recruited to play the movie natives of what L. Frank Baum called Munchkin Country in his 1900 book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz."

Carroll played the part of the Munchkinland Town Crier, marched as a Munchkin Soldier and was the candy-striped Fiddler who escorted Judy Garland down the yellow brick road toward Emerald City.

Born Michael Finocchiaro, Carroll danced at the Muny Theater in St. Louis when he was in grade school, he said, and in the 1920s worked in Chicago clubs and on the Orpheum Theater vaudeville circuit.

He warmed up crowds for President Franklin Roosevelt while campaigning in New York City and served as a crowd-getter in President Harry Truman's whistlestop campaign.

Over the years, he appeared with Mae West and did radio shows with George Burns, Gracie Allen, Jack Benny and Al Jolson.

In November 2007, Carroll and six other survivors were on hand in Los Angeles when the Munchkins received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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BOSTON (AP) — Dom DiMaggio, the bespectacled Boston Red Sox center fielder who was overshadowed by his older brother Joe's Hall of Fame career, died early Friday at his Massachusetts home. He was 92.

DiMaggio, a seven-time All Star, was surrounded by his family at his death, according to his wife of 61 years, Emily. She did not give a cause of death.

Known as the "Little Professor" because of his eyeglasses and 5-foot-9, 168-pound frame, DiMaggio hit safely in 34 consecutive games in 1949, still the longest consecutive game hitting streak in Boston Red Sox history. The streak was broken when his big brother caught a sinking liner in the eighth inning of a 6-3 Red Sox win over the Yankees.

The younger DiMaggio also had a 27-game hitting streak in 1951, which still ranks as the fifth longest in Red Sox history. Joe set the major league record with a 56-game hitting streak with the Yankees in 1941.

The oldest of the three center field-playing DiMaggio brothers was Vince, who had a 10-year major league career with five National League teams. Vince died in 1986 and Joe in 1999.