Joe DiMaggio Stats, Height, Weight, Research & History | Baseball Almanac (2024)

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How many bats did Joe DiMaggio have? ›

DiMaggio finished his career with a . 325 batting average, 361 home runs, 1,527 RBI and a scant 369 strikeouts. He was named to the All-Star Game in each of his 13 seasons, and the Yankees won the American League pennant 10 times in his 13 years.

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.

The battle against Boston that entire summer was epic, and was always when DiMaggio shined the brightest. He batted . 381 against the Sox that year, with six homers through 13 games. The Yanks would eventually win the World Series in 1949, the first of a record five straight.

DiMaggio served for 2-1/2 years as a physical instructor in the Army's Special Services division, though he never saw combat nor was deployed overseas. The two reports were written shortly before DiMaggio's discharge in September 1945 by officers in the Army's Medical Corps.

Those who saw him say he earned his title as "The Greatest" the old-fashioned way: play by play, game by game, and season by season. DiMaggio may not have dominated any one baseball category, but he excelled in them all. His old teammate Tommy Henrich puts it plainly: "He had no weaknesses."

DiMaggio's skills were much-lauded in his day, and he was voted the American League's most valuable player three times. Fans and writers called him "Joltin' Joe" because of his hard hitting. He was also dubbed "the Yankee Clipper" because of his graceful fielding in Yankee Stadium's vast center field.

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.

Marilyn Monroe was married three times. She was 16 years old when she married her first husband, James Dougherty, on June 19, 1942. Her second marriage was to baseball star Joe DiMaggio on January 14, 1954, when she was 27 years old.

DiMaggio received the Most Valuable Player award for the American League in 1939, 1941, and 1947. He retired at the end of the 1951 season. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1955. In 1954 DiMaggio married film star Marilyn Monroe; this only added to his iconic status in American culture.

Why did Joe DiMaggio retire? ›

DiMaggio's body was beginning to break down. His constant injuries and his propensity to play with pain and push his body beyond normal limits were taking a physical toll. His left heel had been operated on in 1947, when doctors removed a three-inch bone spur. Then there was the bone spur in his right foot.

He came back and began playing again in 1946 until his retirement in 1951 at the age of 36. By the time he retired he had hit 361 home runs. He hit almost one home run for every strikeout. DiMaggio died on the 8th of March, 1999, of lung cancer.

In their time, DiMaggio was considered the better ballplayer of the two, but there's no debate now over which player was the most valuable on the field. Williams' 121 WAR towers over DiMaggio's 79 WAR, though the former accrued all of his through offense and the latter from his five-tool skill-set.

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.

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.

Pete Rose had 14,053 career at bats, the all-time major league and National League record. The American League record is held by Carl Yastrzemski, whose 11,988 career at bats were all in the AL. The single season record is held by Jimmy Rollins, who had 716 at bats in 2007.

Pete Rose is the all-time leader in at bats with 14,053, and the only player in MLB history with more than 13,000 at bats. Only 30 MLB players have reached 10,000 career at bats.