Do you know the name, Joe DiMaggio? He was a major league baseball player and well-known as the one-time husband of actress Marilyn Monroe. He made his name as a star for the New York Yankees at a stadium that some people refer to as “The House That Ruth Built,” Yankee Stadium.

DiMaggio was born in 1914 in Martinez, California. He was one of seven children born to Giuseppe and Rosalia DiMaggio, Italian Immigrants. Giuseppe, a fisherman, had hoped all his kids would become fishermen, but stubborn Joe would do anything to get out of cleaning his dad’s boat. The smell of dead fish made him nauseous.

Joe never completed high school and, instead, worked at a series of jobs, including hawking newspapers. Then his older brother, Vince, a baseball player, let Joe play shortstop for his team, The San Francisco Seals, a minor league club.

In 1934, two years after Joe made his professional debut, he suffered a career-threatening knee injury. He recovered and Bill Essek, a Yankees’ scout, signed him to a contract.

Joe made his major league debut in 1936. Legendary Lou Gehrig was in the lineup that day. DiMaggio had tremendous success as a ballplayer in a career that spanned 13 years. He helped lead the Yankees to nine World Series during that span. He was known as “Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio.”

But in 1951, at age 37, Joe suffered an injury that would end his baseball career.

Off the field, but not forgotten, DiMaggio was inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame four years later.

In his private life, DiMaggio married actress Dorothy Arnold in 1939. They had a son together before divorcing in 1944. Later, he began dating Marilyn Monroe, an actress who didn’t want to meet Joe, fearing that he was an arrogant athlete. But she soon realized he was nothing like that. The couple eloped in 1954 but divorced soon after.

Monroe was in and out of relationships, and Joe reentered her life after her marriage to playwright Arthur Miller ended. When she died unexpectedly, DiMaggio paid for her funeral.

Joe DiMaggio, a smoker, died from lung cancer in 1999 at the age of 81. But he’ll live forever in the annals of baseball as one of the best players who ever played the game.

(Originally Published on The Sports Column in 2019.)