Joe DiMaggio

Joseph Paul DiMaggio born Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio November 25 1914 March 8 1999 nicknamed Joltin Joe the Yankee Clipper and Joe D was an American baseball center fielder who played his entire 13year career in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees He is widely considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time and is best known for setting the record for the longest hitting streak in baseball 56 games from May 15 July 16 1941 which still stands today He was a threetime American League AL Most Valuable Player Award winner and an AllStar in each of his 13 seasons During his tenure with the Yankees the club won ten American League pennants and nine World Series championships His nine career World Series rings are second only to fellow Yankee Yogi Berra who won ten At the time of his retirement after the 1951 season he ranked fifth in career home runs 361 and sixth in career slugging percentage 579 He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1955 and was voted the sports greatest living player in a poll taken during baseballs centennial year of 1969 His brothers Vince 19121986 and Dom 19172009 were also major league center fielders He enlisted in the US Army Air Forces on February 17 1943 rising to the rank of sergeant He spent most of his military career playing for baseball teams and in exhibition games and superiors gave him special privileges due to his prewar fame Embarrassed by his lifestyle he requested that he be given a combat assignment but was turned down He was released on a medical discharge in September 1945 due to chronic stomach ulcers  In January 1937 he met actress Dorothy Arnold on the set of Manhattan MerryGoRound He announced their engagement on April 25 1939 they married on November 19 1939 and had a son Joseph Paul DiMaggio Jr 19411999 They divorced in 1944 while he was on leave from the Yankees during World War II He and actress Marilyn Monroe eloped on January 14 1954 The union was troubled from the start by his jealousy and controlling attitude he was also physically abusive After returning from New York City to Hollywood in October 1954 she filed for divorce after only nine months of marriage He underwent therapy stopped drinking alcohol and expanded his interests beyond baseball He reentered her life as her marriage to Arthur Miller was ending On February 10 1961 he secured her release from Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic in Manhattan She joined him in Florida where he was a batting coach for the Yankees Their just friends claim did not stop remarriage rumors from flying Bob Hope dedicated Best Song nominee The Second Time Around to them at the 33rd Academy Awards According to Maury Allens biography he was told that DiMaggio left his employ on August 1 1962 because he had decided to ask Monroe to remarry him Four days later on August 5 she was found dead in her Brentwood home Devastated he claimed her body and arranged for her funeral He barred Hollywoods elite and members of the Kennedy family from attending including President John F Kennedy He had a halfdozen red roses delivered to her crypt three times a week for 20 years He refused to talk about her publicly or otherwise exploit their relationship He never married again