When baseball’s Hall of Fame announced last Monday that a veterans committee had elected Joe Gordon, an All-Star second baseman for the Yankees during the Joe DiMaggio era, elderly fans who consider their gray hairs to be pinstripes nodded knowingly. But younger Yankees followers might have wondered, Joe Who?

Nearly 60 years since Gordon last played, he had been pretty much forgotten if not ignored, even by the Yankees. His name seldom appeared except when a Yankee was voted the American League’s most valuable player. Gordon earned that award in 1942 with a .322 average, 18 homers, 103 runs batted in and a dazzling glove for a pennant-winning team, even though Ted Williams won batting’s Triple Crown that season.

DiMaggio endured as the Yankee of that era, but Gordon once prompted his manager, Joe McCarthy, to say, “The greatest all-around player I ever saw, and I don’t bar any of them, is Joe Gordon.”

•

Turning acrobatic double plays with the young Phil Rizzutoand earlier with the veteran Frank Crosetti at shortstop, Gordon was also a power hitter, rare for a second baseman in those years. He slugged 25 home runs as a rookie in 1938, then 28 in 1939 along with 111 R.B.I. and 30 with 103 R.B.I. in 1940. Tony Lazzeri, his Hall of Fame predecessor at second base, never hit more than 18 homers in a season.

Gordon, who had been a running back, a gymnast, a soccer player, a long jumper and a violinist as well as a baseball player for two years at the University of Oregon, helped the Yankees win four World Series. But he quietly had a single and a double that prolonged two of baseball’s most memorable rallies, both in 1941.

Williams, who batted .406 that season, hit the most famous home run in All-Star Game history, a three-run, two-out game-winning blast against Claude Passeau in Detroit. It drove in Gordon (who had singled) and DiMaggio (who was safe when second baseman Billy Herman’s potential game-ending-double-play throw pulled first baseman Frank McCormick off the bag).

In Game 4 of the 1941 World Series at Ebbets Field, the Dodgers appeared to have won, 4-3, when Yankees right fielder Tommy Henrich struck out. But catcher Mickey Owen let Hugh Casey’s pitch get past him as Henrich hurried to first. DiMaggio singled. Charlie Keller doubled for a 5-4 lead, then Bill Dickey walked and Gordon doubled for a 7-4 victory. The Yankees clinched the next day.

That same season, DiMaggio hit safely in 56 consecutive games, the baseball record that may never be broken.

As the Yankees coasted to the pennant, DiMaggio’s roommate, Lefty Gomez guided him to a surprise team party during a road trip stop at a Washington hotel. His teammates presented DiMaggio with a sterling silver cigar humidor. Atop it was a statuette of DiMaggio in his classic swing. On one side was 56, the other had 91 for his hit total during the streak. Below were his teammates’ engraved autographs.

DiMaggio, surprised and pleased with what would be his favorite trophy, often said, “It was just a little party in a hotel room, but it was the biggest party I’ll ever go to.”

•

Gordon, like many of his teammates, praised the usually talkative Gomez, saying: “Lefty, I wanted to congratulate you. This is the first time in history you kept a secret.”

After spending the 1944 and 1945 seasons in the Army during World War II, Gordon, then 31, batted only .210 with 11 home runs in 1946 as the Yankees finished third, 17 games behind the Red Sox. When the Indians’ owner, Bill Veeck, inquired about the aging Gordon’s availability, he gave Larry MacPhail, the Yankees’ major-domo, a choice: the right-hander Allie Reynolds and the minor league infielder Eddie Bockman for Gordon, or the right-hander Red Embree for Gordon. MacPhail checked with DiMaggio.

“There’s no choice,” DiMaggio told him. “Get Reynolds.”

It was a trade that truly was good for both teams. As a flame-throwing starter and reliever, Reynolds was 131-60 for the Yankees, helping them win six World Series, including a record five straight (1949 to 1953). Gordon, playing alongside the manager-shortstop Lou Boudreau, revived his career, crashing 32 homers and driving in 124 runs as the Indians won the 1948 World Series against the Boston Braves.

The year before, Gordon had endeared himself to a rookie who joined the Indians in midseason: Larry Doby, the first African-American in the A.L.

Looking back on that day, Doby often recalled how one of the Indians’ veterans declined to shake hands with him, but when the players paired off to warm up before the game, another veteran turned to him and said, “Let’s have a catch.” Joe Gordon.

On his way to his own Hall of Fame career, Larry Doby never forgot that. And now that they’re both in Cooperstown, they can have a catch there.