Before 1960, San Francisco did not host a national league franchise and sports-thirsty citizens had to be content rooting for their home-town athletes instead. Joe DiMaggio was the most famous example.
Joseph “Joltin’ Joe” DiMaggio was born in Martinez, California to Sicilian immigrants. He was the sixth of seven children. Two of his brothers, Vince (1912-1986) and Dom (1917-2009), would also go on to become Major League center fielders.
The family settled in North Beach[1] when DiMaggio was young. His father earned a living as a fisherman. DiMaggio was a truant at Galileo High School, eventually dropping out to work odd jobs. At 17, his brother Vince, who was playing for the San Francisco Seals[2], convinced the manager to bring Joe on as a shortstop. Impressed with his batting and fielding skills, DiMaggio played with the Seals for three years, eventually signing with the New York Yankees in 1936. When the Yankees went on to win the World Series that year, San Francisco held a Parade in DiMaggio’s honor upon his return. A year later DiMaggio met actress Dorothy Arnold. They married at Sts. Peter and Paul Church[3] in 1939 and would have one son, Joseph DiMaggio Jr. (1941–1999). The couple would divorce in 1944.
Reclusive and quiet by nature, DiMaggio could not avoid the public spotlight when, in 1941, he broke George Sisler’s 41-game hitting record. He united the nation as everyone was glued to their radios to see if he could continue his streak. It was front page news for two months until his record was set at 56. It still holds today.
DiMaggio played for 13 years with the Yankees, taking three years off for service during World War II. He enlisted in the US Air Force in 1943 and was stationed around the United States as a physical education instructor. Embarrassed about his cushy assignments, he requested being given a combat assignment but was denied. He was released in 1945 due to chronic stomach ulcers. Meanwhile, his parents, along with other German, Japanese and Italian immigrants, were considered “enemy aliens” by the government. They were required to carry photo ID booklets with them at all times and were not allowed to travel outside a five-mile radius of their home. DiMaggio’s father was prohibited from entering the San Francisco Bay and his boat was seized. Both of DiMaggio’s parents would become American citizens at the end of the war.
DiMaggio would play in 9 World Series, second only to his fellow teammate Yogi Berra’s 10. DiMaggio also holds the record for most seasons with more home runs than strikeouts.
Di Maggio retired in 1949, saying that he felt he could no longer “produce”. He was 37 and returned to his family home at 2150 Beach Street in the Marina.
In 1953 DiMaggio turned down a managerial job with the Brooklyn Dodgers to court film star Marilyn Monroe. They would marry at San Francisco’s City Hall a year later. The marriage was troubled from the start, with stories that DiMaggio was jealous, controlling and physically abusive. The couple made headlines after a vicious verbal altercation directly following Monroe’s filming of the iconic skirt-blowing scene for The Seven Year Itch. A month later, Monroe filed for divorce: they had been married nine months. Devastated, DiMaggio quit drinking and went into therapy.
In 1961, as Monroe’s marriage to playwright Arthur Miller was ending, Monroe joined DiMaggio in Florida, where he was a batting coach for the Yankees. He quit his job on August 1, 1962 with the intention of asking Monroe to remarry him. Tragically, Monroe was found dead in her home before DiMaggio could ask her from an apparent suicide. DiMaggio’s son would publicly state that he’d talked to Monroe the night before and she sounded fine, providing fodder for the slew of conspiracy theories surrounding Monroe’s death in the years that followed. DiMaggio claimed her body and arranged for her funeral. He banned all of Hollywood’s elite as well as the Kennedy family from attending. He had six red roses delivered to her gravesite three times a week for the next twenty years. DiMaggio never remarried, nor did he ever speak publicly about their relationship.
DiMaggio was a hitting coach for the Oakland Athletics from 1968-1970. In 1970 he became spokesperson for Mr. Coffee, a job he would hold for two decades. He could be seen spending his days while in the City playing golf at the Presidio Golf Club. In 1989, moments before the Loma Prieta Earthquake[4], DiMaggio was photographed shaking hands with fans at the World Series game at Candlestick Park[5]. He was always impeccably dressed and gracious.
In 1998 DiMaggio was admitted to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Florida for lung cancer surgery. He remained in the hospital for 99 days. When he was released, he returned to his home in Florida. He died two months later at the age of 84. According to his attorney his last words were, “I’ll finally get to see Marilyn,” though this has been disputed by the DiMaggio family. His funeral was held in San Francisco at Sts. Peter and Paul Church. He was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma. His son would die that same year.
In 1981 the Joe DiMaggio Playground at 651 Lombard was dedicated. In 2006 his attorney began licensing the Joe DiMaggio name, and Joe DiMaggio’s Italian Chophouse on Union Street opened that same year. With dark polished wood, navy leather circular booths, and filled with DiMaggio photos and memorabilia, it closed in 2020.
[1] North Beach: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=5026
[2] San Francisco Seals: story coming September 20th[3] Sts. Peter and Paul Church: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4298
[4] Loma Prieta Earthquake: story coming October 17th
[5] Candlestick Park: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=3712
