BOSTON – They were “The Teammates.” The Four Amigos, if you will.They were Johnny Pesky, Bobby Doerr, Dominic DiMaggio and Ted Williams.They became three in 2002 when Williams – the most celebrated of them all – died in Florida. And today, they lost another of their exclusive fraternity when Dominic DiMaggio, at age of 92, died in his sleep in his Massachusetts home.The four teammates formed the backbone of the 1946 Boston Red Sox – a fearsome juggernaut that rolled through the American League season and clinched the pennant with almost a month to go, but lost in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. They remained friends all their lives, and were eventually chronicled in a book by the late David Halberstam called “The Teammates.”Pesky got the news early this morning.”I was woken up out of bed by some TV station,” he said. “I feel awfully, awfully bad about this. He was a wonderful guy, a wonderful human being. We lost Teddy ? and now we’ve lost Dominic. It’s a sad time.””The Little Professor” was the youngest brother of the baseball playing DiMaggio family. There was Vince, the oldest ? and then Joe, the Hall of Famer. Dominic lived in Joltin’ Joe’s shadow all his life, even though – in his own right – he was one of the best center fielders the Red Sox ever had. His defense made such a difference that, indirectly, he was part of one of the most famous plays (or misplays, depending on what side you were on) in World Series history.In the top of the eighth inning in Game 7 of the 1946 World Series, DiMaggo hit a double that tied the score at 3. But he pulled a hamstring trying to leg it out to second. Leon Culberson replaced him in center, and had neither the speed nor the skills of DiMaggio.With two outs in the game and Enos Slaughter on first, Harry Walker hit a single that resulted in Slaughter dashing around the bases and scoring – with Pesky’s split-second hesitation before throwing home seen historically as the pivotal play.In Halberstam’s book, DiMaggio said that he had been signaling Culberson to move over to where he figured Walker would hit the ball, but that Culberson didn’t see him. As a result, Culberson was out of position when Walker hit the ball. Also, Culberson’s arm wasn’t as strong as DiMaggio’s, which meant Pesky had to go out farther into the outfield to take the cutoff. By the time he turned around, Slaughter was rounding third and heading home.”I couldn’t have thrown him out with a cannon,” Pesky said a few years ago. He was never comfortable being designated as the “goat” in that series, but said “back then, you just accepted it. You didn’t complain.””(Dominic) was a great teammate,” Pesky said. “He was very quiet. And a great ballplayer. We’re getting to the age now where you hate to answer the phone.”He was a bright guy,” Pesky said. “Of the four of us, he was the smartest. Ted always thought so. I think Ted tolerated me. We had such a great time playing ? and we stayed friends all these years.”DiMaggio never made the Hall of Fame, though there was tremendous groundswell to get him inducted by the Veterans’ Committee, led by local radio and TV personality Dick Flavin. DiMaggio often attended the Johnny Pesky Friendship Dinner, held on the North Shore every February as the Red Sox prepared to depart for spring training.