Joe Dimaggio

Reagan and DiMaggio

Joe "Joltin' Joe" DiMaggio (1914-1999) was a Baseball Hall of Fame baseball player for the New York Yankees from 1936 to 1951. He holds the record for number of consecutive games with a hit (56), in 1941, which is considered one of the greatest achievements in all of sports. Joe was married briefly to Marilyn Monroe and devastated when she divorced him. Marilyn's good friend Jane Russell said Marilyn was planning to remarry Joe when she prematurely and unexpectedly died at age 36 in 1962.^[1] Joe arranged for her funeral after Marilyn died, and sent a dozen red roses three times every week to Marilyn's grave for 20 years afterwards.^[2] He excluded Hollywood from Marilyn's funeral, feeling it was culpable.

Joltin' Joe is immortalized in the famous Simon and Garfunkel song Mrs. Robinson.

Joltin' Joe holds the all-time record of the fewest strikeouts for a home run hitter, striking out only about once for every home run that he hit and only once per 18.5 at-bats. He also led the Yankees to many pennant and nine World Series championships during his career.

He was an all-round player who was a superb center-fielder, recording a remarkable 22 assists in throwing out base runners in one season.

DiMaggio's father was a fisherman and Joe was raised in a Catholic family of nine children.

Surprisingly, and perhaps due to having a relatively short career, DiMaggio was not elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, but was in his second eligible year.^[3] His career was a relatively short 13 years, which kept him from becoming a leader in most career statistics. He missed the 1943, 1944, and 1945 seasons by serving honorably in World War II, and was disadvantaged as a right-handed hitter in a ballpark built with a short right-field fence for the left-handed Babe Ruth. DiMaggio was one of the very best right-handed hitters of all-time.

Married and divorced from Marilyn Monroe, and reconciled with and perhaps planning to remarry her when she tragically died in August 1962,^[4] reportedly DiMaggio's final words before dying in 1999 were: "I'll finally get to see Marilyn."^[5]

Literature[edit]

Ernest Hemingway refers to DiMaggio as an example of greatness in The Old Man and the Sea.^[6]

Mickey Mantle[edit]

Joe DiMaggio was replaced by Mickey Mantle in center field for the Yankees, which DiMaggio disliked and also bristled at some of the attention later given to Mantle after both had retired.^[7] "Joe never forgave Mantle for replacing him in center field and not taking his advice about how to conduct himself as a Yankee," a biography claimed.^[8]

References[edit]