Joe DiMaggio

Early life

Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio was born on November 25, 1914, in Martinez, California, the eighth of nine children born to Italian immigrants Giuseppe and Rosalia DiMaggio. His Italian birth name was Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio. Rosalia named her son "Giuseppe" after his father in the hopes he would be her last child.

Giuseppe was a fisherman, as were generations of DiMaggios before him. DiMaggio's brother Tom told Maury Allen that Rosalia's father wrote to her saying Giuseppe could earn a better living in California. Giuseppe and Rosalia decided that he would go to the United States for one year: if things were better, he would send for her; if not, he would return home. After being processed on Ellis Island, Giuseppe worked his way across the country, eventually settling near Rosalia's father in Pittsburg, California on the east side of the San Francisco Bay Area. After four years, he had earned enough money to send for Rosalia and their daughter, who was born after he left. When Joe was a toddler, Giuseppe moved his family to the North Beach section of San Francisco. Giuseppe hoped that his five sons would become fishermen.

DiMaggio recalled that he would do anything to get out of cleaning his father's boat, as the smell of dead fish nauseated him. Giuseppe called him "lazy" and "good-for-nothing". At age ten, he took up baseball, playing third base at the North Beach playground near his home. DiMaggio began with the neighborhood team. Within months, a rival team tempted him away for two dollars. Before long, he was bouncing between teams as a hired bat. After attending Hancock Elementary and Francisco Middle School, DiMaggio dropped out of Galileo High School and worked odd jobs.

By 1931, DiMaggio was playing semi-pro ball. Nearing the end of the 1932 season, his brother Vince, playing for the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League (PCL), talked his manager into letting DiMaggio fill in at shortstop. He made his professional debut on October 1, 1932, playing the last three games. In less than two years, DiMaggio made the jump from the playground to the PCL, one notch below the majors. In his full rookie year, from May 27 to July 25, 1933, he hit safely in 61 consecutive games, a PCL-record, and second-longest in Minor League Baseball history. "Baseball didn't really get into my blood until I knocked off that hitting streak," he said. "Getting a daily hit became more important to me than eating, drinking, or sleeping."

Professional career

New York Yankees (1936–1942, 1946–1951)

DiMaggio made his Major League debut on May 3, 1936, batting ahead of Lou Gehrig in the lineup. The Yankees had not been to the World Series since 1932, but they won the next four World Series. Over the course of his 13-year Major League career, DiMaggio led the Yankees to nine World Series championships, where he trails only Yogi Berra (10) in that category.

DiMaggio set a franchise record for rookies in 1936 by hitting 29 home runs. DiMaggio accomplished the feat in 138 games. His record stood for over 80 years until it was shattered by Aaron Judge, who tallied 52 homers in 2017.

In 1937, DiMaggio built upon his rookie season by leading the majors with 46 home runs, 151 runs scored, 167 runs batted in and 418 total bases, all career highs. He also hit safely in 43 of 44 games from June 27 to August 12. He finished second in American League MVP voting in a close race with Charlie Gehringer of the Detroit Tigers.

In 1939, DiMaggio was nicknamed "the Yankee Clipper" by Yankee's play-by-play announcer Arch McDonald, when he likened DiMaggio's speed and range in the outfield to the then-new Pan American airliner. That year in August, DiMaggio recorded 53 RBIs, tying Hack Wilson's 1930 record for most in a single month. He also won his first career batting title and MVP award, as well as leading the Yankees to their fourth consecutive World Series championship.

DiMaggio was pictured with his son on the cover of the inaugural issue of SPORT magazine in September 1946.

In 1947, DiMaggio won his third MVP award and his sixth World Series with the Yankees. That year, Boston Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey and Yankees GM Larry MacPhail verbally agreed to trade DiMaggio for Ted Williams, but the trade was canceled when MacPhail refused to include Yogi Berra.

In the September 1949 issue of SPORT, Hank Greenberg said that DiMaggio covered so much ground in center field that the only way to get a hit against the Yankees was "to hit 'em where Joe wasn't." DiMaggio also stole home five times in his career. According to the David Halberstam book Summer of '49, former manager Joe McCarthy said, "DiMaggio might have stolen 60 bases a season if I had given him the green light."

1941 hitting streak

DiMaggio's most famous achievement is his MLB record-breaking 56-game hitting streak in 1941. The streak began on May 15, a couple of weeks before the death of Lou Gehrig—who had been DiMaggio's teammate from 1936 to 1939—when DiMaggio went one-for-four against Chicago White Sox pitcher Eddie Smith. Major newspapers began to write about DiMaggio's streak early on, but as he approached George Sisler's modern-era record of 41 games, it became a national phenomenon. Initially, DiMaggio showed little interest in breaking Sisler's record, saying: "I'm not thinking a whole lot about it... I'll either break it or I won't." As he approached Sisler's record, DiMaggio showed more interest, saying, "At the start, I didn't think much about it... but naturally I'd like to get the record since I am this close." On June 29, 1941, DiMaggio doubled in the first game of a doubleheader against the Washington Senators at Griffith Stadium to tie Sisler's record and then singled in the nightcap to extend his streak to 42.

A Yankee Stadium crowd of 52,832 fans watched DiMaggio tie the all-time hitting streak record (44 games, Wee Willie Keeler in 1897) on July 1. The next day against the Boston Red Sox, he homered into Yankee Stadium's left-field stands to extend his streak to 45, setting a new record. DiMaggio recorded 67 hits in 179 at-bats during the first 45 games of his streak, while Keeler recorded 88 hits in 201 at-bats. DiMaggio continued hitting after breaking Keeler's record, reaching 50 straight games on July 11 against the St. Louis Browns. On July 17 at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium, DiMaggio's streak was finally snapped at 56 games, thanks in part to two backhand stops by Indians third baseman Ken Keltner. DiMaggio batted .408 during the streak with 15 home runs and 55 RBI. The day after the streak ended DiMaggio started another streak that lasted 16 games, therefore hitting safely in 72 of 73 games. The closest anyone has come to equaling DiMaggio is Pete Rose, who hit safely in 44 straight games in 1978. During the streak, DiMaggio played in seven doubleheaders. The Yankees' record during the streak was 41–13–2.

Some consider DiMaggio's streak a uniquely outstanding and unbreakable record and a statistical near-impossibility. Nobel Prize-winning physicist and sabermetrician Edward Mills Purcell calculated that, to have the likelihood of a hitting streak of 50 games occurring in the history of baseball up to the late 1980s be greater than 50%, 52 .350 lifetime hitters would have to have existed instead of the actual three (Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, and Shoeless Joe Jackson). His Harvard colleague Stephen Jay Gould, citing Purcell's work, called DiMaggio's 56-game achievement "the most extraordinary thing that ever happened in American sports". Samuel Arbesman and Steven Strogatz of Cornell University disagree. They conducted 10,000 computer simulations of Major League Baseball from 1871 to 2005, 42% of which produced streaks as long or longer, with record streaks ranging from 39 to 109 games and typical record streaks between 50 and 64 games.

World War II

DiMaggio enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces on February 17, 1943, rising to the rank of Staff Sergeant. He was stationed at Santa Ana, California, Hawaii, and Atlantic City, New Jersey, as a physical education instructor. He was released on a medical discharge in September 1945, due to chronic stomach ulcers. Other than being paid $21 a month, DiMaggio's service was as comfortable as a soldier's life could be. He spent most of his military career playing for baseball teams and in exhibition games against fellow Major Leaguers and minor league players, and superiors gave him special privileges due to his prewar fame. DiMaggio ate so well from an athlete-only diet that he gained 10 pounds, and while in Hawaii he and other players mostly tanned on the beach and drank. Embarrassed by his lifestyle, DiMaggio requested that he be given a combat assignment but was turned down.

Parents as "enemy aliens"

Giuseppe and Rosalia DiMaggio, both from Isola delle Femmine, were among the thousands of German, Japanese, and Italian immigrants classified as "enemy aliens" by the government after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Each was required to carry photo ID booklets at all times and was not allowed to travel outside a five-mile radius from their home without a permit. Giuseppe was barred from San Francisco Bay, where he had fished for decades, and his boat was seized. Rosalia became an American citizen in 1945, followed by Giuseppe in 1946.

Marriages

Dorothy Arnold

In January 1937, DiMaggio met actress Dorothy Arnold on the set of Manhattan Merry-Go-Round, in which he had a minor role, and she was an extra. He announced their engagement on April 25, 1939, just before the Yankees were to meet the Philadelphia Athletics. They married at Saints Peter and Paul Church, San Francisco on November 19, 1939, as 20,000 well-wishers jammed the streets. The couple's son, Joseph Paul DiMaggio Jr. (1941–1999), was born at Doctors' Hospital in Staten Island. Their marriage was troubled, as Arnold wanted DiMaggio to settle down and be a father to their son and a nearby husband to her; DiMaggio was more interested in the public eye. The couple divorced in 1944, while DiMaggio was on leave from the Yankees during World War II.

Marilyn Monroe

According to her autobiography My Story, co-written with Ben Hecht, American actress Marilyn Monroe originally did not want to meet DiMaggio, fearing he was a stereotypical arrogant athlete. However, they did meet in Los Angeles while on a blind date. After dating for two years, they eloped at San Francisco City Hall on January 14, 1954. Although she suffered from endometriosis, Monroe and DiMaggio each expressed to reporters their desire to start a family.

The union was troubled from the start by DiMaggio's jealousy, controlling attitude, and him physically abusing Monroe, as well as her busy life as an actress. A violent fight entailing physical assault between the couple occurred immediately after Monroe filmed the skirt-blowing scene in The Seven Year Itch that was filmed on September 14, 1954, in front of Manhattan's Trans-Lux 52nd Street Theater, as DiMaggio disapproved of the scene. Then 20th Century Fox's East Coast correspondent Bill Kobrin told the Palm Springs Desert Sun that it was director Billy Wilder's idea to turn the shoot into a media circus. Monroe and DiMaggio then had a "yelling battle" in the theater lobby. After returning from New York City to Hollywood in October 1954, Monroe filed for divorce from DiMaggio after only nine months of marriage. However, she was devastated to leave DiMaggio, and throughout the procedures in court, she could be seen weeping openly.

DiMaggio was also devastated, and wrote to Monroe, saying, "I love you and want to be with you…There is nothing I would like better than to restore your confidence in me…My heart split even wider seeing you cry in front of all those people." He also wrote, "[I don't] know what your thoughts are about me, but I can tell you I love you sincerely—way deep in my heart, regardless of anything." After the divorce, DiMaggio underwent therapy, stopped drinking alcohol, and expanded his interests beyond baseball.

On August 1, 1956, an International News wire photo of DiMaggio with Lee Meriwether gave rise to speculation that they were engaged, but DiMaggio biographer Richard Ben Cramer wrote that it was a rumor started by columnist Walter Winchell. Monroe biographer Donald Spoto claimed that DiMaggio was "very close to marrying" 1957 Miss America Marian McKnight, who won the crown with a Marilyn Monroe act, but McKnight denied it. He was also linked to Liz Renay, Cleo Moore, Rita Gam, Marlene Dietrich, and Gloria DeHaven during this period, and years later to Elizabeth Ray and Morgan Fairchild, but he never publicly confirmed any involvement with any woman.

Advertising

In the 1970s, DiMaggio became a spokesman for Mr. Coffee, and was the face of the electric drip coffee makers for over 20 years. Vincent Marotta, the CEO of North American Systems, which manufactured Mr. Coffee at the time, recruited DiMaggio for the advertising campaign. DiMaggio's spots were successful with consumers. In a 2007 interview with The Columbus Dispatch, Marotta joked that "millions of kids grew up thinking Joe DiMaggio was a famous appliance salesman." Despite the commercials, DiMaggio rarely drank coffee due to ulcers, and when he did drink coffee, he preferred Sanka instant coffee rather than coffee brewed by Mr. Coffee machines.

In 1972, DiMaggio became a spokesman for the Bowery Savings Bank. Except for a five-year hiatus in the 1980s, he regularly made commercials for them until 1992. In 1986, he became a spokesperson for Florida's Cross Keys Village, an active retirement community.

Television programs

Beginning in April 1952, DiMaggio had 10-minute programs on Channel 11 in New York City before and after each Yankees' home game. Episodes included interviews with guests and DiMaggio's comments about baseball. The team owned the program, with DiMaggio under contract to the Yankees. He also did Joe DiMaggio's Dugout on Channel 4 in New York City, a weekly filmed program unrelated to the pre-and post-game shows. It featured instructional sessions and quizzes for young people.

Death

DiMaggio was a heavy smoker for much of his adult life. He was admitted to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Florida, on October 12, 1998, for lung cancer surgery and remained there for 99 days. He returned to his home in Hollywood, Florida, on January 19, 1999, where he died on March 8 at age 84. DiMaggio's attorney, Morris Engelberg, reported that his last words were, "I'll finally get to see Marilyn", referring to his ex-wife Marilyn Monroe.

DiMaggio's funeral was held on March 11, 1999, at Saints Peter and Paul Church in San Francisco, and he was interred three months later at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, California. His son also died that year, on August 6, at age 57.

Legacy

At his death, The New York Times called DiMaggio's 1941 56-game hitting streak "perhaps the most enduring record in sports."

According to American geneticist Mary-Claire King, in the spring of 1981 DiMaggio babysat her daughter at the San Francisco airport so King could drop her mother off to her flight to Chicago. According to King, if it were not for DiMaggio's kindness, she would have almost certainly missed her own flight that was taking her and her daughter to Washington, D.C., a trip that eventually resulted in King's getting her first major grant from the National Institutes of Health and the discovery of the breast and ovarian cancer-causing gene BRCA1.

On September 17, 1992, the doors were opened at Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Florida, for which he raised over $4 million.

On April 13, 1998, DiMaggio was given the Sports Legend Award at the 13th annual American Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame Awards Dinner in New York City. Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State and a longtime fan of DiMaggio, made the presentation to the Yankee great. The event was one of DiMaggio's last public appearances before taking ill.

Yankee Stadium's fifth monument was dedicated to DiMaggio on April 25, 1999, and the West Side Highway was officially renamed The Joe DiMaggio Highway in his honor. The Yankees wore DiMaggio's number 5 on the left sleeves of their uniforms for the 1999 season. He is ranked No. 11 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and he was elected by fans to the Major League Baseball All-Century Teamaddition to his number 5 being retired by the New York Yankees, DiMaggio's number was also retired by the Florida Marlins, who retired it in honor of their first team president, Carl Barger, who died five months before the team took the field for the first time in 1993. DiMaggio had been his favorite player.

In 2000 after some negotiations, the heirs of Joe DiMaggio's estate, two granddaughters and their four children, welcomed the renaming of San Francisco's North Beach playground, the place where Joe DiMaggio first took up baseball as a boy, as the Joe DiMaggio North Beach Playground.

Career statistics

DiMaggio played in 10 World Series, winning 9. His only loss was in the 1942 World Series. He batted .271 (54–199), with 27 runs scored, 8 home runs, and 30 RBI in 51 post-season games.

In popular culture

An American icon, DiMaggio's popularity during his career was such that he was referred to in film, television, literature, art, and music both during his career and decades after he retired.

Art

Pierre Bellocq: Canvas of Stars mural for Gallagher's Steak House (2006)

Robert Casilla: The Continuity of Greatness

Zenos Frudakis: bronze sculpture of DiMaggio for the Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital

Red Grooms: Joltin' Joe Takes a Swing installation (1985–1988)

Literature

"The Ex-Athlete" is based on him in Joyce Carol Oates's 2000 novel Blonde.

In Ernest Hemingway's 1952 novel, The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago is a fan of DiMaggio.

Music

Betty Bonney and Les Brown: "Joltin' Joe DiMaggio"

Simon & Garfunkel: "Mrs. Robinson" (Paul Simon performed the song on Joe DiMaggio Day in Yankee Stadium, a month after DiMaggio died.)

Billy Joel: "We Didn't Start the Fire"

Madonna: "Vogue"

Vulfpeck: "1 for 1, DiMaggio"

Movies

Blonde, played by Bobby Cannavale

Television

DiMaggio is referenced in the Seinfeld episode "The Note" in which Kramer believes to have seen him at a local donut shop.

The Bronx is Burning, played by Christopher McDonald

Theatre

Bronx Bombers (2013) by Eric Simonson: DiMaggio is a character in the play.