He was acquired by the Brooklyn Dodgers from the Pirates midway through the 1947 season, and is most famous for his heroic catch of a drive off the bat of the New York Yankees' Joe DiMaggio in Game 6 of the 1947 World Series.

At the time, there was no instant replay, and Gionfriddo was widely believed to have robbed DiMaggio of a home run.

However, the game film, when developed later, clearly showed Gionfriddo catching the ball several steps shy of the wall, and thus actually robbing DiMaggio of a double or triple instead of a home run.

[3] After spending four years with the Dodgers' AAA Montreal Royals and a season with the Class AA Fort Worth Cats, Gionfriddo was given a chance to play for and manage the Drummondville, Quebec Royals of the Class C Provincial League in 1953.

Drifting west, Gionfriddo played three years for teams in the California League, and then spent three years as the General Manager of the Dodgers' Santa Barbara minor league club, before finally retiring from pro baseball after the 1959 season.