Baseball player. Born Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio Jr., on November 25, 1914. The winner of three Most Valuable Player awards in his career, DiMaggio was one of the most popular and talented players to ever compete in Yankee Stadium. His 1941 hitting streak of 56 games was one of the most closely watched achievements in baseball history, and he was so beloved by his fans that on World War II battlefields, Japanese attempting to insult American soldiers called out insults to Joe DiMaggio. His career batting average was .325, and he hammered 361 home runs. In 1949 he became the American League's first $100,000 player.
The son of Italian immigrant parents, DiMaggio grew up in the San Francisco area with his four brothers and four sisters. At the age of 17, he elected to play minor league baseball with the San Francisco Seals, the team on which his brother was making his professional debut near the end of the 1932 season. With a salary of $250 a month, 6-foot-2-inch DiMaggio became a Bay Area celebrity in 1933, hitting safely in 61 consecutive games, an all-time record for professional baseball, while hitting .340 and driving in 169 runs. A year later DiMaggio hit .341 and was purchased by the New York Yankees for $25,000 and five minor league players. An impressive .398 batting average earned him a Yankee tryout in 1936, where he was billed as the next Babe Ruth. DiMaggio's debut was delayed because of an injury, yet on May 3, 1936, when he appeared on the field for the first time, 25,000 cheering, flag-waving Italian residents of New York showed up to welcome him to the team.

By 1936, "Joltin' Joe," as he was called, led the league with a career-high 46 home runs. Even with the depth of the left field fence in Yankee Stadium, DiMaggio hit 361 career home runs, placing him fifth on the major league all-time home run list when he retired in 1951. In 1937, he batted an impressive .346, driving in 167 runs. The next season, DiMaggio hit .324, followed in 1939 with a .381 and his first batting championship and the league Most Valuable Player award. Late in the 1939 season, DiMaggio was hitting at a .412 pace, but eye trouble, and possibly the pressure, kept him from staying above the .400 mark.

During the 1940 season, DiMaggio captured his second consecutive batting title with a .352, but for the first time since he had joined the Yankees his team failed to win the pennant--setting the stage for the 1941 season that would make baseball history.