Joe DiMaggio
Joe DiMaggio was born on November 25th, 1914 in Martinez, California. Joe’s childhood
life wasn’t exactly ordinary. His father was a Sicilian fisherman, who always had Joe assist him
on his boat. However, he still rejected the life of a fisherman, unfortunately because he could not
handle the smells of the ocean and the rocking sensation of the waves. It wasn’t before long that
Joe discovered his baseball talent. Later after Joe had had enough with working with his father,
he then found a vigorous passion for baseball. He started off playing with his brothers and
sisters, and then continued onto play in the North West Pacific League in his early twenties. This
was when Joe’s unpredictable success of baseball had started. Joe DiMaggio was not only a
legendary baseball athlete, he was also known as one of the best dressed men in America and
tried his best to perfect his profession.
Joe DiMaggio surprisingly never finished high school. In the spring of 1930, he decided
to drop out of Galileo High School at age 16. He tried many jobs including fishing but nothing
suited him better than doing what he loved best, playing baseball. He started off his career
playing for minor leagues After his season in the North West Pacific League in his early
twenties, he continued on to playing for numerous Major League Baseball teams such as the San
Francisco Seals, but he was most remembered for his career in playing for the New York
Yankees, where he led his team to nine World Series Championships and achieved his record
breaking sixty-one game hitting streak.
Even though Joe was probably the best baseball player in history, he was not the most
charming person you’ll meet, in fact he was actually a very selfish individual. His selfish actions
were mainly the result of the Great Depression, in which players either took what a club offered
or found a new line of work. DiMaggio declined both, instead he asked for a $25,000 increase in
salary after being paid $15,000 in his sophomore season in 1938 in which he led the league in
home runs. He even went further than that, when the Yankee general manager told him that even
Lou Gehrig, baseball’s richest player at the time, didn’t even surpass $40,000, DiMaggio
instantly replied,” Then Mr. Gehrig is a badly underpaid player.” DiMaggio finally gave up
trying to increase his salary after the management accused him of disloyalty, and so he had no
other choice but to accept Barrow’s terms of a take-it-or-leave-it offer of $25,000. His
disrespectful actions wouldn’t be forgotten, however. Society later reacted upon DiMaggio’s
irrelevant demands at only age 23 with hatred and angriness. They argued that $1,500 a year was
already enough to put food on the table with a little extra leftover, and this man wanted $40,000
a year? Clearly, DiMaggio deserved the publics’ harsh criticism.
On October 12, 1998, Joe DiMaggio was granted admission into the Memorial Regional
Hospital in Hollywood, Florida in order to have surgical lung cancer treatment. He stayed in the
hospital for 99 straight days, and on January 19, he came back to his home in Florida, but died
shortly after on March 8, 1999. His last words were, “I’ll finally get to see Marilyn.” He is
referring to his wife in whom he divorced 9 months after their wedding. Judging from his words,
he regretted his divorce with Marilyn Monroe and he wanted to regain his connection with her in
the afterlife. On March 11, 1999, his funeral was held at St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in
San Francisco, and he was later interred at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, California.
Joe DiMaggio was without a doubt the most iconic baseball figure in history. He set
unimaginable records in baseball that earned him his reputation. Even though he was not the
nicest guy, he was more known for his positive features, rather than negative. Joe DiMaggio’s
life has a great impact on growing children today, because it shows that you don’t necessarily
need a good education to become successful, even though it will help. What matters is that you
follow what you love to do the most in life, instead of pursuing a high salary career that you
don’t really enjoy working for.