Joe DiMaggio | Biography & Facts (2024)

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What are some interesting facts about Joe DiMaggio? ›

His lifetime batting average was . 325 and he hit 361 home runs in his career. He also hit 131 triples, 389 doubles, and was involved in 4,529 put-outs in the outfield. In 1954 DiMaggio was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

His consistency led to one of the most remarkable records of major league baseball—DiMaggio's feat of hitting safely in 56 consecutive games (May 15–July 16, 1941). The prior record for the longest hitting streak of 44 games was set in 1897 (and, at that time, foul balls did not count as strikes).

Known for his devotion to the game of baseball as much as for his athletic prowess, DiMaggio changed the way America viewed the sport, entertaining sports fans of all ages and from all demographics and walks of life like had never been done before.

World War II

DiMaggio enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces on February 17, 1943, rising to the rank of sergeant. He was stationed at Santa Ana, California, Hawaii, and Atlantic City, New Jersey, as a physical education instructor.

Authorities at Monroe's house didn't know what to do or who to call, as Monroe had no family. So they called DiMaggio. DiMaggio stepped in and orchestrated his ex-wife's funeral. DiMaggio barred the public and almost all the Hollywood glitterati — producers, directors and actors — from the funeral.

Though known to be short-tempered in private, DiMaggio refrained from showing such behavior in public. A painfully private person, he was always careful and protective of his image, understanding that it was his legacy.

Joe DiMaggio was a cultural icon. He married Hollywood starlets Marilyn Monroe and Dorothy Arnold and he was immortalized in Paul Simon's hit song Mrs. Robinson; to a generation he was the face of Mister Coffee, and he was regarded as one of the greatest players who ever played the game. He was an American hero.

Inside, Joe was still a poorly educated son of a San Francisco area immigrant fisherman, but very intelligent to the effect of the image he projected to others. He knew he wasn't the suave, wise, and educated man of the world that everyone thought he was.

"I'll finally get to see Marilyn," DiMaggio whispered. Morris Engelberg, who was at the Yankee outfielder's bedside when he died, recalled DiMaggio's last words in a story in Vanity Fair magazine. It was not the first time DiMaggio had said that, Engelberg said Tuesday from his office in Hollywood, Fla.

What happened to Joe DiMaggio's son? ›

Despite their estrangement, Joe Sr. left his son a $20,000-a-year trust fund. Joe Jr. barely had enough time to spend it, as he died on August 7, 1999, five months after his father's death.

DiMaggio singles to start hitting streak

On May 15, 1941, Joe DiMaggio singled to begin his 56-game hitting streak.

DiMaggio had enlisted in the Army in 1943. He never saw combat himself, but he knew a bit about what combat soldiers experienced. So, in Vietnam, the soldiers were his sole focus. "He was better off the field than he was on the field," Rose says.

During their nine month marriage in 1954, among other key differences revealed, Joe was possessive, controlling, & abusive towards Marilyn, as well as jealous of the attention her fame brought her, the breaking point being the live NYC filming of the the skirt-lifting scene for “The Seven Year Itch” (1954), which ended ...

DiMaggio's only flaw was that he rarely made a difficult play because he rarely made a play look difficult. There wasn't a player with a better, stronger, or more accurate throwing arm than DiMaggio's when Joe was in his prime.