Joe DiMaggio: There's More to This Baseball Player Than Marilyn Monroe

A Look Back at the Career, Both on and Off the Field of Joe DiMaggio

During his career with the Yankees, DiMaggio had a .300 plus hitting average in eleven out of thirteen seasons. One of his best years, quite possibly, had to be during the 1936 season where DiMaggio was one of a record five players on one team do drive in one hundred plus runs. He was also known throughout his career for having hitting streaks. The first occurred with the semi-professional San Francisco Seals, where DiMaggio had hits in sixty-one consecutive games from May 28th- July 25th, 1933. His second occurred with the Yankees during the 1941 season. This fifty-six game streak lasted from May 15th – July 17th, 1941. Other Yankee accomplishments include: winning the American League’s Most Valuable Player Award three times, having thirteen All Star Game appearances, winning two American League batting titles, and nine World Series wins. DiMaggio was on such a great team, that during his first four years as a Yankee, all four years he went on to play in the World Series. In 1955, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Off the field, DiMaggio made a name for himself as an actor, appearing in Angels in the Outfield, and The First of May. He was also the spokesman for Mr. Coffee during the mid-1970’s. In addition to being an actor, DiMaggio was also a great philanthropist, donating money to the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. At the close of the decade, DiMaggio was elected to baseball’s All Century Team, and was ranked at #11 on The Sporting News’ 100 Greatest Baseball Players. Some of his other accomplishments also include:

Runs scored – 1390 (79th place overall)
Triples – 131 (tied for 77th place overall)
Home runs – 361 (63rd place overall)
Runs batted in – 1537 (38th place overall)
Batting average - .325 (38th place overall)
On-base percentage - .398 (tied for 55th place overall)
Slugging average - .579 (11th place overall)
On-base and slugging average - .977 (14th place overall)