Joe dimaggio's life and significance in his era - Research Paper Example

Joe DiMaggio’s Life and Significance in His Era Table of Contents Joe DiMaggio 3 His era 4 References 5 Joe DiMaggio Joe DiMaggio is respected as one of the greatest personalities in the history of sports in America. This famous baseball player was born in California on 25th November, 1914 (Anonymous. “Life Story”). His father used to be a fisherman like their early generations. However, Joe, instead of taking the family tradition ahead, started playing baseball in the baseball grounds of San Francisco.

Soon he became the ‘star’ of the famous Pacific Coast League. In 1936 DiMaggio joined New York Yankees and he played for them till 1951 (Anonymous. “Life Story”). Yankees managed to win nine championships by using the leadership and class of DiMaggio. He is the only player who was an important part of four world champion teams and eventually these were his first four fulltime seasons (Anonymous. “Life Story”). This is an incredible record in the history of North American sports. DiMaggio’s skills were incomparable and to honor his potentials he was chosen as the most valuable player of the American League.

To his fans he was known as “Joltin’ Joe”. Broadcaster Arch McDonald used to call him ‘Yankee Clipper’ for his gracefulness in the ground. In his career DiMaggio scored 361 home runs. Furthermore there are 389 doubles and 131 triples under his name. There were almost 4529 put-outs that involved DiMaggio. In the year 1954, DiMaggio was given place in the ‘National Baseball Hall of Fame’ (Dennis Gaffney. “Joe DiMaggio”). Off the field DiMaggio was not as successful as he was inside the field.

As a person he was known to be a shy individual. Dorothy Arnold (Oomph Girl) was his first wife, but their marriage crumbled after three years. He took retirement in 1951 and worked as a commentator, but unfortunately he was not liked very much. Then he worked as a coach as well as vice president of Oakland Athletics (Dennis Gaffney. “Joe DiMaggio”). In 1954 he married famous Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe and with this tie-up he again came in the spotlight. In 1970 DiMaggio appeared in the TV commercials that were made for Mr.

Coffee which was a machine for making coffee. During this time period he made considerable amount of money. He was found to be very protective regarding his fame. He always wanted people to introduce him as the “Baseball’s Greatest Living Player” (Dennis Gaffney. “Joe DiMaggio”). On 8th March, 1999 DiMaggio passed away. His era In 1941 when America was getting ready for World War II, DiMaggio started to achieve new heights in the history of baseball in America. His streak of 56 game hitting captivated the entire country (Anonymous.

“Life Story”). His performances were so influential that they turned the focus of the Americans from war to baseball. During his era there was no television. His achievements were mainly reported in newspapers and the games that he played were broadcasted on radio. Fans from all across the country checked their radios to know whether he has got a hit or not. The performances of DiMaggio were so great that they were able to provide something new, fresh and enjoyable to the country that was heavily involved in the war.

References Anonymous. “Life Story”. No Date. Joe DiMaggio. April 14, 2011. < http://www.joedimaggio.com/LifeStory.php?n=1> Dennis Gaffney. “Joe DiMaggio”. No Date. PBS. April 14, 2011. < http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dimaggio/peopleevents/pande02.html>