1941 Play Ball Joe DiMaggio #71 PSA Gem Mint 10....
Auction amount: $750,000
Sold: Feb 23, 2020
Joe Dimaggio
Baseball
Nicknames: Joltin’ Joe, The Yankee Clipper
Teams: New York Yankees (1936-1942, 1946-1951)Biography:
Joe DiMaggio was one of the greatest players that baseball has ever seen. He set a hitting streak record that has gone more than sixty years without being broken. He was an All-Star in every season of his career. He even got to see himself voted the sport's greatest living players.
Early Years
Joe was born in 1914 in California. His father was a fisherman, and he hoped that his son would follow in his footsteps, but Joe couldn't stand the smell of fish. He did whatever he could to avoid working with his father's boat, and his talent for baseball offered him and some of his brothers an opportunity to avoid the fisherman's life. Joe got his first chance as a semi-professional when his older brother got him a chance to fill in as a shortstop for the San Franciso Seals.
Career
He got his chance to go into the major league from the Yankees, the team that he would play on for the rest of his career. That career would last for thirteen years, and those years were more than enough time for him to break records and make himself famous for his skill at the sport.
He is most famous for his 56-game hitting streak, but that was far from his only achievement. He was the first player to earn more than $100,000. He was clearly worth all that money and more, because the Yankees managed to win the World Series nine times while he was with them. His batting average was .325, but his real skill was as a slugger. He had a home slugging average of .546 and an away average of .610. His home stadium put left-handed sluggers at a disadvantage due to its size, which made him one of the rare players who hit better while he was away from home.
Retirement and Personal Life
DiMaggio managed to make himself famous for more than just baseball after he retired. Joe spent the rest of his career working as a spokesman for Mr. Coffee and the Bowery Savings Bank, roles that helped keep him in the public eye.
He married twice, once to Dorothy Arnold and once to the famous starlet, Marilyn Monroe. Monroe seems to have been the love his life, and when Joe died his last words expressed his happiness at being able to see her again.
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