DiMaggio, Joe

Born: Nov 25, 1914

Baseball player.
Born in Martinez, CA, USA.

Joseph Paul DiMaggio, born Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio, Jr. (November 25, 1914 - March 8, 1999), nicknamed "Joltin' Joe" and "The Yankee Clipper," was an Italian American center fielder in Major League Baseball who played his entire career (1936-1951) for the New York Yankees.

The eighth of nine children, DiMaggio was born in a two-room house in Martinez, California to Sicilian immigrants; delivered by a midwife. His mother, Rosalia, named him "Giuseppe" for his father; "Paolo" was in honor of Saint Paul, Giuseppe's favorite saint. The family moved to San Francisco when Joe was one year old.

Giuseppe was a fisherman, as were generations of DiMaggios before him. It was his dream to have all five of his sons fish the Bay with him. Joe would do anything to get out of cleaning his father's boat, as the smell of dead fish made him sick to his stomach; this earned him Giuseppe's ire, who called him "lazy" and "good for nothing." It was only after he became the sensation of the Pacific Coast League that his father was finally won over.

A 3-time MVP winner and 13-time All-Star who was widely hailed for his accomplishment on both offense and defense, as well as for the grace with which he played the game, he ended his career voluntarily at age 36 with the 5th-most career home runs (361) and 6th-highest slugging percentage (.579) in history. In a 1969 poll conducted in New York to coincide with the centennial of professional baseball, he was voted the sport's greatest living player.

A "picture-perfect" player, many rate his 56-game hitting streak (May 15 - July 16, 1941) as the top baseball feat of all time. His older brother Vince and younger brother Dom were also major leaguer center fielders: Vince was a 2-time National League All-Star; Dom was a 7-time All-Star who played his entire 11-year career for the Boston Red Sox.

Taken from Wikipedia

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