DiMaggio, Joe Joseph Paul DiMaggio, b. Martinez, Calif., Nov. 25, 1914, was professional baseball's premier center fielder during the late 1930s and 1940s. Playing his entire career (1936-42, 1946-51) for the New York Yankees, DiMaggio was a dangerous batter and one of the most graceful and fleet outfielders ever to play the game--hence his nicknames, Joltin' Joe and the Yankee Clipper. DiMaggio was the eighth of nine children of a San Francisco fisherman. In 1936 the Yankees purchased …showed first 75 words of 247 total…

…showed last 75 words of 247 total…career with a .325 batting average, 2,214 hits, 361 home runs, and 1,537 runs batted in. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1955. Ever the soft-spoken gentleman, both on and off the field, DiMaggio endeared himself to the American public. Rick Cunningham Bibliography: De Gregorio, George, Joe DiMaggio: An Informal Biography (1981); Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher, Me and DiMaggio (1986); Moore, Jack G., Joe DiMaggio: Baseball's Yankee Clipper (1987); Seidel, Michael, Streak: Joe DiMaggio and the Summer of '41 (1988). Picture Caption[s]