Joe DiMaggio

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Joe DiMaggio bigraphy, stories - American baseball player and coach

Joe DiMaggio : biography

November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999

Joseph Paul "Joe" DiMaggio ( or ; November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999), born Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio, nicknamed "Joltin’ Joe" and "The Yankee Clipper", was an American Major League Baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career for the New York Yankees. He is perhaps best known for his 56-game hitting streak (May 15 – July 16, 1941), a record that still stands.

DiMaggio was a three-time MVP winner and an All-Star in each of his 13 seasons. During his tenure with the Yankees, the club won ten American League pennants and nine World Series championships.

At the time of his retirement, 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 sport’s greatest living player in a poll taken during the baseball centennial year of 1969.

His brothers Vince and Dom also became major league center fielders.

Advertising

In the 1970s, DiMaggio became a spokesman for Mr. Coffee and would be the face of the electric coffee makers for over 20 years. In 1972, DiMaggio became a spokesman for The Bowery Savings Bank. With the exception of a five-year hiatus in the 1980s, DiMaggio regularly made commercials for the financial institution until 1992.

Death

DiMaggio, a heavy smoker for much of his adult life, 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 Florida home on January 19, 1999, where he died on March 8.

DiMaggio’s funeral was held on March 11, 1999, at Sts. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church in San Francisco.. DiMaggio’s son died that August at age 57.http://www.thedeadballera.com/Obits/Dimaggio.JoeJr.Obit.html"The Obit for Joe DiMaggio Jr." The Deadball Era. July 8, 1999. February 11, 2009. DiMaggio is interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, California.

In popular culture

DiMaggio’s popularity during his career was such that he was referenced in film, television, literature, art, and music both during his career and decades after he retired.

Art

  • Pierre Bellocq’s "Canvas of Stars" mural for Gallagher’s Steak House (2006) May 28, 2010.
  • Robert Casilla’s "Joe DiMaggio: The Continuity of Greatness" giclee April 6, 2011.
  • Devon Dikeou’s "Marilyn Monroe Wanted to be Buried in Pucci" installation (2008) May 27, 2010.
  • Harvey Dinnerstein’s "The Wide Swing" (1979) sold at auction for $95,000 February 28, 2010.
  • Curt Flood’s painting of DiMaggio sold at auction for $9,500 February 25, 2010.
  • Bart Forbes’s illustration of DiMaggio for the July 1999 Boy’s Life
  • Zenos Frudakis’s bronze sculpture of DiMaggio for the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital May 28, 2010.
  • Bill Gallo drew DiMaggio for the New York Daily News; a caricature of DiMaggio and Ted Williams sold at auction for $750 February 28, 2010.
  • Red Grooms’s "Joltin’ Joe Takes a Swing" installation (1985–1988) February 28, 2010.
  • Stephen Holland’s giclee "Joe DiMaggio" (2005)
  • Armand LaMontagne’s 1991 giclee of DiMaggio sold at auction for $325 February 28, 2010.
  • Tommy McDonald’s paintings of DiMaggio sold at auction for $4,000, February 25, 2010. and $2,300
  • Willard Mullin’s 1936 drawing of DiMaggio sold at auction for $2,600
  • LeRoy Neiman’s painting "Joe DiMaggio, New York Yankees" (1969), mixed media "Joe DiMaggio, San Francisco Seals" (1989), and painting "The DiMaggio Cut" (1998)
  • Bruce Stark’s caricature of DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle sold at auction for $700 February 28, 2010.
  • Mark Ulriksen’s illustration of DiMaggio for the cover of the April 12, 1999 The New Yorker
  • Susan Dorothea White’s "The Crowning with Sexism" (1994), DiMaggio appears behind Marilyn Monroe