Joe DiMaggio: The Hero's Life

by Richard Ben Cramer

In a stunning feat of meticulous reportage, Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Ben Cramer ultimately puts to rest the "Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?" question with iconoclastic bravura. In Cramer's evaluation, the hero America held onto so desperately for so long was really a creation of a nation's communal imagination. The Joe DiMaggio that America tried so hard to believe in was never really here at all.

There was, of course, a Joe DiMaggio, and he had a splendid career in Yankee pinstripes--once hitting safely in an unimaginable 56 consecutive games--and a troubled marriage with Marilyn Monroe, each augmenting the other in our national mythology. But myths tend to be skin-deep, and Cramer's biography thrives in an internal geography well below the surface. The map he charts is of a cold, small, often nasty, uncaring, resentful, self-centered man, a man of public grace and private misery who broke friendships, shunned family, and chased money with the same focused energies he once harnessed to run down fly balls. It's not a pretty picture.

Scrupulously researched and elegantly written, The Hero's Life is filled with stories and reminiscences, both on and off the field, from others--not surprisingly, DiMaggio offered no cooperation--that both illumine the man and, more fascinatingly, explain our very need for him. Amid all the success and adulation, there was little joy in DiMaggio's life, and few moments--beyond the real heartache he felt over Monroe--of connection with others beyond Joe's personal need for others to serve him. "No one really knew what it meant to have spent a half-century being precisely and distinctly DiMaggio," Cramer writes, "what we required Joe DiMaggio to be. No one knew, as he did, what it cost to live the hero's life. And no one knew, as he did, precisely what it was worth." It seems our nation turned its lonely eyes to a proud, but empty shell; Cramer's superb book helps us understand why we did, and how DiMaggio was able to take all the good will extended him and give so little back. --Jeff Silverman

Genres: Sports, Baseball, Biography, Nonfiction, History, Biography Memoir, American History

546 pages, Paperback

First published October 17, 2000

About the author

Richard Ben Cramer was an American journalist and writer. He won a Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 1979 for his coverage of the Middle East. His work as a political reporter culminated in What It Takes: The Way to the White House, an account of the 1988 presidential election that is considered one of the seminal journalistic studies of presidential electoral politics.

Reviews

[Jill H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably the greatest baseball player to ever grace the sport, he was a god to his fans, a man who could never do anything wrong. But in reality, Joe DiMaggio was a very complex and not very nice man who hated to be among his fans but yet craved fame. He strove for perfection but did not enjoy all the things that came with it.....except for the money. His association with his "organization" (read "the mob") ensured that he never paid for a thing from meals to cars and some of his financial affairs were suspect. He was extremely rude if things didn't go his way but he continued to be surrounded by sycophants until his death.

This book started out very slowly but picked up speed once Joltin' Joe established himself with the NY Yankees. His first marriage to a beautiful wanna-be actress produced a son, Joe Jr., who Joe barely acknowledged and who died of a drug overdose. His second marriage was, of course, the talk of the town......the baseball hero and the movie star, Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn was so mentally fragile that the marriage lasted a matter of months. But in the long run, it proved to be a love match and they were planning to re-marry before her tragic death/suicide(?).

I was rather surprised and disappointed to learn about Joe's weaknesses and unacceptable behavior but the author, a Pulitzer Prize winner, has done his research and there is no reason to believe that any of the facts presented are false. Regardless, Joe DiMaggio was and will continue to be an icon to baseball fans and the perfect ball player.

[Nicolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well researched biography of baseball legend Joe DiMaggio. It covers his childhood in San Francisco, his rise in the minors and prime as the alpha Yankee of its greatest dynasty. But you can never tell a DiMaggio story without his queen, Marilyn Monroe and how it ends so tragically.

Though the latter chapters was like wading through treacle, the chapters that cover his Yankee years were the best and the ones I enjoyed the most.

This makes me get up and go out look for more hidden sports gems at my favorite bargain bookstore.

[Carol Storm · Rating 1 out of 5]

Devoid of insight, subtlety, or compassion, this book slanders Joe DiMaggio and reveals nothing about his life. It does suggest that self-loathing and snobbery go hand in hand, however.

The author never gets tired of taking cheap shots at DiMaggio. And they're about the stupidest things! "Joe always liked having a guy to drive him around. Joe didn't like having to pay for lunch. Joe felt like his personal feelings were nobody else's concern." Gee, that Joe DiMaggio sounds like a real jerk! Or not. Here was a man who grew up desperately poor, the child of immigrants with nothing. So Cramer sneers at him for pinching pennies well into old age. Nice.

When I think back on it, the person Joe reminds me of is actually James Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's great drama "Long Day's Journey Into Night." James Tyrone is always talking about his kids not knowing the value of a dollar. It's only late at night that he starts talking about what poverty was really like when he was a boy. It's amazing how O'Neill could bring such humanity to that character and Cramer can't find any humanity in DiMaggio. But this book is a hatchet job from page one.

"Joe never took a single minute in his whole life to appreciate the beauty of anything. Unless it was a broad. And that wasn't about beauty, that was just about wanting. Joe wanted a lot." That's from the intro, and it's not an exact quote, but you get the idea. DiMaggio's humanity is pretty much dismissed on the first page of the book.

All Cramer wants to do is dish the dirt, and he writes in the same snarky style that Albert Goldman used in ELVIS. But at least Goldman had real dirt to dish. With Cramer it's all the same old jeering about nothing. "Joe knew how to make a buck. Joe liked to make a buck. But he didn't like it when other people made money off of him."

The more I read this book, and then reread it, the more I noticed something else. Cramer misses the point of his own gotcha-gotcha sniping. Like at one point the aged DiMaggio is hanging out with some guy who owns a bank, and Cramer writes about how it was good for business. "Bank customers would come in just to see Joe napping in the armchair in the president's office." After I read that a few times I realized it was a key moment. Not because Joe was cheap or he expected his friend at the bank to help him out. But because this was a guy who had no family and nowhere to go. For all his money (and at one point he's carrying 600 THOUSAND dollars around in a bag) and for all his millions of fans, Joe DiMaggio really had very few personal relationships. Napping at the bank because he couldn't nap in his own home, or his children's home, or his grandchildren's home. Now that's very sad. But you also notice that Joe doesn't complain. His strength and his loneliness are both beyond Cramer's moral imagination.

This book is like King Lear if it was told from Goneril's point of view.

[Aaron Million · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seemingly each time I read a baseball biography, I go into it thinking it’s going to be a fun lighthearted read. However, more often than not it ends up being a review of a sordid mess of a man’s life. That is not a negative on the quality of the books, but perhaps it is a comment on the baseball players that society often holds up as exemplars of virtue. And that is definitely the case with Joe DiMaggio.

Richard Ben Cramer has written a very interesting and also thoroughly researched biography of DiMaggio, beginning with a brief prologue of Joe DiMaggio day in September 1998 at Yankee Stadium. The scene then quickly shift to DiMaggio‘s boyhood and youth growing up in San Francisco during the 1920s and early 30s. Even from the beginning, DiMaggio was aloof, sour, dour, and surly. DiMaggio had “friends“, but not really. He interacted with them only when he wanted to, and when he didn’t he would either disappear or just stare off into his own world. This was a pattern that he carried on throughout his life.

Cramer then charts DiMaggio’s meteoric rise in baseball from the Pacific Coast League to his rookie year with the Yankees in 1936. Even today, DiMaggio is widely considered to be one of the best baseball players that ever played the game. Perhaps the best. Although as any baseball fan could tell you, that will be endlessly open for debate, with several options to choose from. DiMaggio certainly marketed himself for decades as the “greatest living player”. DiMaggio won, and won, and won, and won again. He won nine World Series with the Yankees. DiMaggio also has the longest hitting streak in baseball history, at 56 games in 1941. You really have to think about that for a minute. I don’t see how anyone is ever, ever going to be able to come even remotely close to that. Especially in today’s game, where hits seem to be fewer and fewer, it’s hard for me to see somebody getting past a 20 game streak.

Cramer chronicles the streak, and DiMaggio’s years with the Yankees. As with the friends of his youth, DiMaggio was often off by himself when he was a Yankee. Many teammates he would not even talk to or would barely even acknowledge. Other teammates knew enough to stay away from him. But why did all of them think that he was so great? It is because he willed himself to be better, to play better, to always give 100%, to never settle for less than that. DiMaggio is hard on other people, very hard. Yet it seems that he was hardest on his self when it came to his own play. As he aged, DiMaggio’s injuries began to stack up: issues with both heels, an issue with his shoulder, his legs starting to give out on him, his back starting to become bulky. DiMaggio missed significant portions of time in several seasons due to injuries. He knew that 1951 was going to be his last season, and he helped the Yankees win one final championship.

But this book isn’t just about DiMaggio’s exploits at Yankee Stadium. This guy was the definition of a loner. Someone who could go sit in a bar by himself, drink by himself, and not want to be bothered by anybody. Somebody who could go to a bar with somebody, sit there for hours, but not say a word. people floated in and out of DiMaggio’s life, at his whim. DiMaggio was ultra suspicious of anyone and everyone, even his own brothers. If he thought somebody was trying to cash in on their acquaintanceship with him, even in the smallest way, he cut them out of his life and did so heartlessly. this book is littered with people who devoted themselves to DiMaggio for years, possibly decades, only to be unceremoniously dumped at the curb for who knows what reason.

DiMaggio was married twice, and both marriages end in divorce. He was a womanizer, and at least in the case of his second marriage, to Marilyn Monroe, he was an abuser. Yet, with both women, after being divorced from them he tried desperately to get back with them. With Monroe‘s sudden death in 1962, even though he was already divorced from her, they had been planning to get married again, and DiMaggio stayed single for the remainder of his life. DiMaggio also had a son, Joe Jr., from his first marriage, but he did not exactly garner dad of the year honors. As with almost everyone else, DiMaggio eventually cut his son out of his life as well.

Cramer actually goes fairly deep into DiMaggio‘s time with Marilyn Monroe. Interestingly they were actually married for less than a year. But they were in and out of each other’s lives for almost a decade. DiMaggio was infatuated with her, and couldn’t stand to be without her, although he couldn’t stand to be with her when he was with her, at least early on.

For a time in the book, Cramer actually goes more into Marilyn Monroe and leaves DiMaggio sort of as a side character. I get why he did that, given her importance to DiMaggio, but it just seemed to me to go on a bit too long. Monroe was a mess, and reading about some of her activities almost lends this a tabloid-esque feel at times. Fortunately he does not get into much speculation about her death and the mysteriousness surrounding that. For the purposes of this book, DiMaggio is devastated.

But suddenly, the book goes from this time (1962), up to 1989 in the next chapter, right after the big earthquake in San Francisco during the World Series. This can be a little jar and, as twenty-seven years have flashed by quickly. Yet, I didn’t really feel like I missed out on a whole lot of DiMaggio‘s life. Four at this point he had already taken to traveling around the country, and sometimes around the world, basically marketing himself, enriching himself, and trying to get things for free. As he does throughout the book, Cramer shows how DiMaggio was a cheapskate and penny-pincher, always looking to get free food, free lodging, free anything from everyone, without having to do anything in return. On top of that, DiMaggio always got special treatment everywhere he went. It didn’t matter if it was San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, anywhere, only the best was given to DiMaggio. An example of this comes on page 435, with Cramer writing about the earthquake: “Green cards allowed full access – they were hard to get. Joe flashed his green card.”

The last several chapters deal with DiMaggio‘s declining years, and his obsession with continuing to make more and more money off of memorabilia sales throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Unfortunately, DiMaggio got himself set up with a shyster lawyer in Hollywood Florida, Maurice Engleberg. Engleberg ended up taking over full control of DiMaggio‘s estate, even trying to freeze out his brother Dominic and anyone else who may still have been close to DiMaggio at that time. Cramer really goes into detail about how nasty Engelberg was, and how he took advantage of DiMaggio, taking possession and making great profits off his signed merchandise. I would like to say I felt bad for DiMaggio, but after going through this entire book and seeing how horribly he treated everyone, I think this is exactly what he deserved.

The book has a very breezy style to it, with Cramer calling drinks “belts“. Especially in the baseball parts, Cramer writes a lot about what the baseball writers thought about DiMaggio. At times I thought this was a little bit much, and sort of wondered if he was suffering from a writers bias himself. And then towards the end, with the memorabilia issues and Engleberg trying to take over, it resembled more of a soap opera. At the same time, if that is what DiMaggio‘s life ended up being, then Cramer is doing his job by depicting it accurately. I came away from the book sad that DiMaggio, despite all the greatness that he achieved, never seem to be happy, and never seem to be settled. He was restless, lonely, and frequently angry. He was also extremely greedy.

If you like baseball, New York Yankee history, or just want an interesting story to read about, then I recommend this book. If you were looking up for an uplifting story, this one probably is not going to be it. Then again, maybe I need to stop thinking that baseball biographies might have happy endings.

Grade: B-

[Geoff Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good biography of a not so very good man, who was, however, a great baseball player. I loved the story about how Joe got MM out of a psych hospital:

For Marilyn this was the worst fear of her life come true, she was locked away like her mother, a prisoner in a loonie bin. After three days, when she was finally permitted one call, she phoned to Florida. she called Joe DiMaggio. He was there the next day, at the Payne Whitney reception desk, six feet, one-and-a-half inches tall, wide at the shoulders, glowering darkly, and in no mood for talk. "I want my wife" DiMaggio said. No one pointed out to him that he and Marilyn Monroe had not been married for the last 6 years. Instead they tried to tell him that they had no authority to release Miss Monroe, to him or to anyone else."I want my wife" Joe DiMaggio said, with menacing precision. His large hands gripped the reception desk. "And if you do not release her to me, I will take this place apart, piece of wood by piece of wood." Suddenly, the Payne Whitney staff discovered that Miss Monroe was free to go.

[Tommy Ventre · Rating 3 out of 5]

"A nickel was something to hold on to in Joe's world."

Hats off to Cramer for not falling victim to rosy, mushy sentimentalism when it comes to DiMaggio. So many men of Cramer's age do just that, but the bottom line is that the dude was a paranoid, deranged, cheapskate, abusive asshole. Probably not even worthy of having a journalist the caliber of Cramer write about him, aside from the fact that he really was the best baseball player in history. But this is in no way a baseball book. It's more about fame, money, and how backwards so many people in this country are (Kennedys and Marilyn included). Cramer wasn't being romantic or wistful when he titled this book "The Hero's Life". Rather, the life of a hero is poisonous, crushing, and never preferable to just a plain old life. Avoid it if you can, Cramer seems to be saying.

Excellent research and reporting. A bit repetitive at times (Joe just kept doing the same shit), but really engrossing by the time it all comes together in the end.

[Andre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent biography. The only nitpick--and it is a minor one--is that the thirty years between Marilyn Monroe's death and the 1989 San Francisco earthquake are ignored. Reading further, though, let me know everything I needed to know about those years. This as thorough an examination of a somewhat reclusive enigma as you will ever read.

Richard Ben Cramer must be commended for his research. It is clear the author truly loves and admires his subject, but he did not hide the negatives from the reader. He gives you all the gory details about Joe D. Cramer carefully connected compartments of DiMaggio's life: family, love life, fame, baseball. The result is a full story of a full life.

I highly recommend this to anyone who loves baseball or just wants to learn a little more about America around the era of World War II. The Hero's Life is a keeper.

[Nathan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really knew nothing specific about Joe DiMaggio coming to this book; just the merest whiff of Marilyn Monroe and that one Simon and Garfunkel song. For me, he fell into that strange category of "great but not particularly interesting" historical figures, even given my personal love of baseball: not as charismatic as Babe Ruth or godlike as Sandy Koufax or as socially relevant as Willie Mays or Jackie Robinson. I'm not sure that I appreciate him any more having read Cramer's book. It isn't that Cramer doesn't recognize DiMaggio's talent; it's that he doesn't seem to care enough about baseball as a sport to really give it a careful and reverent treatment. This is the sort of sports biography that will blather on for 15 pages about the particular way an athlete signs a baseball, while giving no clear indication that it understands or appreciates what the athlete did with the ball on the field.

Cramer has a sort of crack-jawed, swaggeringly colloquial style that irked me to no end; he tosses around racial slurs as an attempt for "local color" and interjects his own wit wherever he can, refusing to just shut up and get on with the story. It jerkily moves toward the end, lurching over Marilyn Monroe so carelessly that the relationship comes off as a one-night stand, and weakly sloughing off with Joe's old age and death. No evaluation of his impact on the sport, no real analysis of the hitting streak, no evidence given to back up that DiMaggio was any sort of a hero as Cramer claimed. I was completely unsatisified with this book.

[Manray9 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Richard Ben Cramer's Joe DiMaggio: The Hero's Life is a bruising exposé of a strange man. Off the diamond he was deeply flawed, on it he was a god. DiMaggio was, in baseball parlance, a “five tool” player. He could slam homers, hit well over .300, run like an antelope, nail a runner at home plate from center field, and catch any ball in the outfield. Above all else, he was a winner. Unfortunately Ben Cramer's account of his private life and personal character reveal him as repellent. DiMaggio was cold, domineering, suspicious, impatient, and greedy. If he is redeemed in any way, it was though his deep and abiding love for the damaged Marilyn Monroe.

I expected Ben Cramer's book to be more baseball and less exposé. About a quarter of the book is de facto a biography of Monroe. Joe DiMaggio: The Hero's Life is an infield bleeder just past Three Stars in my library.

[Jillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stolen from my dad's library, I discovered two things. 1). Joe DiMaggio was kind of a greedy bastard. 2). He really did love Marilyn Monroe. Of course, Marilyn Monroe was what initially drew my attention to this biography. The Marilyn chapters were my favorite. I really did think they loved each other, but it just didn't work out. I loved the fact he put roses on her grave every week until he died. Now that's devotion. That and his phenomenal baseball playing might just redeem him from his greediness and cold disregard of most people. It didn't make you hate DiMaggio, which could've been easier. I don't know if Marilyn and Joe were really going to get remarried when she died, but I'd like to believe it just because I like happy endings.

I'd recommend if you were a sports buff, particularly baseball, but it's not for everybody.

[Ralph · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't imagine liking a book about DiMaggio less. He captures none of the magic that made DiMaggio great.
DiMaggio enriched the lives of millions, and acted with grace and with class. No doubt he was a complex person, with faults, and was the product of his environment. This book could have been very interesting and informative to those of us not alive during those years. Instead, we get the hatchet. The book lacks balance, depth and complexity, and was written in a disparaging way.
According to Richard Ben Cramer (a northeast, monied, Columbia University educated author) DiMaggio could only do one thing right (he repeats this several times throughout the book) - hit. The author uses the most basic ethnic slurs to describe DiMaggio and his personality, his family, and his friends.
Joe D's silence is not seen as a poor, local boy's reticence and humbleness, but as a "Sicilian" mafia-like brooding. According to the author, DiMaggio's concern over money was the result of him being a cheapskate and of greed, not the result of being raised dirt-poor during the depression as one of 5 sons and several daughters of a fisherman. Papa DiMaggio is not spared the author's blade either, and instead of being portrayed as a man making an honest day's buck (literally) for an honest days work, he is portrayed through the lens of the upper crust - he was ignorant, threatening, angry and didn't value education. The author's use of "Sicilian" as a reason for perceived negative behaviors is appalling.
Instead of speaking to the challenges that an immigrant son faced in an America that looked down on him, Cramer indulges in some ethnic slurs (Dago bread instead of Italian bread), even outside of the context of the quotes of others.
According to Cramer, the Yankee Clipper was over-possessive and angry in regards to his relationship with Marilyn Monroe, instead of portraying him as a person who was looking out for her interests, even as many others used her - right up until her death.
His competitive steak, which led him to 9 World Series Rings and 3 MVPs, is portrayed as jealousy and bitterness.
In short, Cramer is living testimony to the reason I believe DiMaggio was so distant - he was afraid of parasitic, hangers-on trying to capitalize on his talent. It is interesting that this was published a year after the great DiMaggio died, as the author apparently knows that the dead can't be libeled.

I would have thought a non-Italian (Cramer is Jewish) would have wanted to learn more about the environment, the age, and the people that gave us DiMaggio (and in some ways kept him from us), instead of the inch-deep caricatures (the violent friend, the loverboy, the loser, the "Sicilians"). The book serves to lessen us all, and enriches the author.

If you want to read of the magic of baseball, read something (anything) by Roger Angell or David Halberstam. If you want to learn more about DiMaggio, read the Wikipedia article. And if you want to really get a feeling for DiMaggio, and what he meant to baseball, and to Americans, find an uncle, or a neighborhood octogenarian while you still can. It will be worth the effort.

Ultimately, people like Cramer subtract from the world, while people like DiMaggio have added to it. I saw Mr Cramer, and his smug smile, on the HBO Ted Williams biography (which was a nice balanced portrayal of a another complicated baseball icon) - he was adding some negativity about Teddy baseball.
Its interesting that some people would use boxing/fighting metaphors, like the phrase "doesn't pull any punches", to describe people like Cramer who make their living by tearing down others, as if they would ever have the guts to face off against those whose reputations they attack.
If I hadn't gotten this book from the library, I would feel like a conspirator.

[Sherrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is certainly a different look at Joe DiMaggio. The athlete who was always considered the epitome of class turned out to be (according to Cramer) a crude, womanizing cheapskate with a very bad temper when crossed. All of which would probably make him not a lot different than the worst of today's professional ballplayers. (It is certainly interesting to speculate how different The Yankee Clipper's legend would have been had he played in today's age of social media and constant press coverage. His marriage to Marilyn Monroe alone is mind-boggling to consider.)
Cramer probably benefitted from DiMaggio's death while the book was being written, in that more people were willing to talk to him about the man's personality and habits. But even with that, the book is long on facts and numbers, short on analysis and reasons. It is also largely written in a "chatting with your buddy" manner--folksy, conversational, and (to me) grating after about 2 chapters of it.

[Eddy Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

cc:

Joe DiMaggio was, at every turn, one man we could look at who made us feel good.
In the hard-knuckled thirties, he was the immigrant boy who made it big -- and spurred the New York Yankees to a new era of dynasty. He was Broadway Joe, the icon of elegance, the man who wooed and won Marilyn Monroe -- the most beautiful girl America could dream up.
Joe DiMaggio was a mirror of our best self. And he was also the loneliest hero we ever had.
In this groundbreaking biography, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Richard Ben Cramer presents a shocking portrait of a complicated, enigmatic life. The story that DiMaggio never wanted told, tells of his grace -- and greed; his dignity, pride -- and hidden shame. It is a story that sweeps through the twentieth century, bringing to light not just America's national game, but the birth (and the price) of modern national celebrity.

by Richard Ben Cramer

[N.N. Heaven · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. I had read it more than a decade ago and chanced upon a copy when on vacation in the summer and had to have it in my collection. This is the unabashed story of Joe DiMaggio. Anyone today who subscribes to the half baked sabermetric approach that DiMaggio is barely a top 20 all time player needs to read this book. DiMaggio drove himself to stardom. In his prime there was no one better at playing baseball. He was an incredible hitter, runner and fielder. His personal life was troubled and his one true love, Marilyn Monroe, was taken from him just as they were about to remarry. This book is a book for every baseball fan, every person who admires the old fashioned American dream and those who love Marilyn Monroe. In the end Joe was taken advantage of by a sleezy business associate who will remain nameless - that person will soon face the ultimate judgement of his character and choices, on a different plane. If you haven't read this book, do so. A 5 star gem.

[Eddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a Mantle guy. Always have been, always will be. So my fan-to-athlete relationship with DiMag has always been one of weary side-eye and respect. But, this beautifully written, comprehensive biography has changed all that. I read this book immediately after reading the wonderful Last Boy Mantle bio by Jane Leavy. As great as that book was, The Hero's Life was superior. I enjoyed every aspect of this biography and would actually read it again, which is not something that I say often (especially for non-fiction). I recommend this book to every sports fan and to any fan of well written non-fiction. This was my favorite read of 2012.

[c · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last third of the book really dropped off. Up until then, it was a really good detailed read.

[Daniel Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best biographies I have read. It pulls no punches in looking at the life and times of Joltin Joe DiMaggio. There are memorable passages such as DiMaggio's hitting streak, his own view of entitlement, his approach to the game and relationship with Marilyn Monroe. A complicated hero and a very interesting account of one of the great ball players of all time. The off the field passages about DiMaggio are as fascinating as those describing the Yankee Clipper on the field. You won't be disappointed by the subject or the writing of Cramer.

[Meagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm always fascinated by the history of the game and my goal is to read as much about the game that I love as I can. I didn't know much about the Great Joe DiMaggio before I read this book, and boy did I learn a a lot...and the majority of it was-he wasn't very nice. This book was very slow in parts, but once you got to his retirement and his business dealings, it got very interesting. If you want an eye-opening look into one of baseball's all time greats, then give this a read. It's definitely not sugar coated.

[Dan Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're a big DiMaggio fan, this book is for you. If you're a casual reader, well, the up-and-down baseball seasons, the girls, the friends left behind, the women, Marilyn, the mob, and the ladies - get repetitive. At times I got a little sick of it and had to put it down. The rich and famous lead such large lives that it can be a bit much to take. And yet, as strange a person as Joe seemed to be, there was a weird inner logic to his actions.

I was surprised that Joe literally came from nothing - not even high school baseball. But apparently the local kids played baseball so obsessively that one single Italian family could field 3(!) major leaguers. A lot of talent and sandlot play could allow someone who had the will to break free from a normal life to make it big. Coaching optional. Such a thing would be almost impossible today. Back then, Joe had a smoke and a halfa-cuppa-coffee between innings. Nowadays major leaguers review video of their last at bat between innings.

Mr. Cramer did a good job of building the tension during each baseball season until Joe almost inevitably made yet another heroic play to break the opposing team and bring sweet victory. I wasn't terribly aware of just how much the Yankees of that era won, so I genuinely felt the grandeur of the sporting achievements of the Yankee Clipper. And yet I wonder how he would have done with modern techniques - training and conditioning. Maybe Joe wouldn't have had such maddening streaks where his hitting just wasn't that great. Because while his hitting was often spectacular, he seemed to suffer regular and baffling slumps. IMO the inconsistency was due to Joe being entirely on his own to figure it out.

Surprisingly though, I found myself concluding that Joe was seriously underpaid by the Yankee organization. I think the game is better now that way. Joe apparently spent his entire career on single season contracts and the Yankees took every opportunity to lowball him and make him look bad if he didn't report for training camp.

And Joe never wanted to look bad. IMO DiMaggio came along just when being famous went from being an enjoyable surprise (Babe Ruth) to being a business. And Joe took it hyper-seriously. As competitive as he was on the field, he was even more so when it came to building and protecting his image. He didn't pal around with other players on the team - he didn't want to be thought of as one of the guys - no, he was special. Everything had to be just right - from how he dressed to how and where he was seen. And he was so successful at building his image that decades later he would be the most popular and famous person in any room he walked into. To the point that he could turn down a request to sit at a table with the president of the US, because he didn't want to sit with him! Who else could get away with that??

As for Joe's friends - well, a lot of them were along for the ride. Men were just as susceptible to Joe's fame and fortune as the broads were. IMO Joe used other people to take care of chores and pay tabs that Joe didn't want to do or pay. After all, they were allowed to bask in the blazing sunshine of superstardom when they were with Joe, so why shouldn't Joe use them? They WANTED to be used. How was that Joe's fault?

But was it really friendship? I'm not sure. Joe was notoriously prickly. One wrong word or action - and Joe would never speak to you again for all of eternity, even if you went back decades. Of course, part of it was Joe protecting himself from people who wanted to take advantage of him. And Joe suspected everyone of wanting to take advantage of him. How appropriate then that when he died, the executor of his estate, a "friend" of 15 years, appears to have been looking to make his fortune off of Joe.

Joe had lots of female relationships. He wasn't known as "Joltin' Joe," or the "Jolter," for nothing. Still, he seems to have genuinely been in love with Marilyn Monroe. That story, needless to say, takes up about 40% of the book. Joe, like a lot of men in Marilyn's life, saw a beautiful waif who needed protection and direction. Well, they were right! But Marilyn wasn't going to give up her Hollywood career and be a housewife like Joe wanted. It was no accident that just as they were married it suddenly became apparent that Marilyn was a superstar in her own right (reference trip to Korea). I think if she had given it up like Joe wanted she would have lived a longer (but likely not uneventful), life. But she also never would have been a superstar.

So I found a lot to criticize about Joe DiMaggio. But in the end I have to admit - it's unlikely I would have done any better. The things that made him "great" - single-minded determination and will - also made it impossible for him to have real friends or family. Or so it seems from the outside. When you're on your deathbed and your son doesn't come see you and your lawyer who has a very large financial interest in you is the one making the decision to pull the plug - well, I'm trying to develop relationships with the young people in my life for a reason. I don't want to end up like that. No idea if I will succeed, though.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has received a wide range of ratings and reviews: people love it, or they hate it. I can see both sides of the issue, though I'm much closer to the positive on this book.

It opens with a very telling anecdote about DiMaggio's competitiveness, cheapness and distrust of everyone -- all themes that come up again and again in the book. It's the classic situation showing the pettiness of a great man, a man of power. But then the book moves into lovely, evocative descriptions of DiMaggio's childhood as the son of a struggling fisherman in San Francisco in the 1920s and 1930s, one of 9 kids (or maybe it's 10). I found those scenes to really bring to life what it must have been like to live at that time, and how it would either inspire you to fight for a better life, or else beat you down so you'd give up.

We know which life DiMaggio chose, and we learn how he really did rocket to fame almost overnight, much in the manner of Elvis Presley (to name one example). DiMaggio was a 16 year-old high school dropout who wasn't even playing sandlot baseball. Three years later, he was the most famous baseball player in the West, and a year after that he was the star center fielder for the Yankees in the World Series. The experience would warp anyone.

From that point, the book moves on parallel tracks, giving some of the highlights of his seasons, as he seemed to come through with game-winning plays over and over, but also his increasingly crazy off-the-field life. On the field, DiMaggio was basically the perfect ballplayer: power hitter, hit for great average, best center fielder in the game and a fearless baserunner. There are as many anecdotes about him winning a World Series game with a slide as there are about him winning with a hit.

DiMaggio had a genius for the game and a determination to win. Though the book doesn't get inside his head very often -- because DiMaggio wouldn't talk much to anyone, ever -- it's clear he also thought ahead in the game at all times. He "knew" where the ball would be hit because he played the odds, based on the pitcher, the pitcher's likely choice of pitch and location, the batter's preferences, and so on. And he didn't respect anyone who couldn't match him in this intensity. The author says that DiMaggio disliked Mickey Mantle, who became the center fielder when DiMaggio aged, because Mantle was so talented that he didn't really need to be in the right place in advance; Mantle could just use his natural speed and get there as needed.

But the book also spends a lot of time on the dark sides of DiMaggio. These come with the downside of anyone's competitive nature -- the selfishness, the meanness. But DiMaggio had more demons than most of us. He drank way too much, and he wasn't a nice drinker much of the time. He took advantage of his growing fame to demand freebies from everyone: dinners, drinks, rides, hotels. He expected every woman he met to sleep with him (and many apparently did), and he encouraged his Mafia connections and others to procure willing girls on a rotating basis. He battled with the Yankees' owners over his salary -- which he had every right to do -- but took out his resentment of his low salary on everyone around him, rather than on the big-shot owners.

The middle of the book is where I think DiMaggio worshippers get angry. He's an established star, and the sports writers cover for all his misdeeds. He performs on the field as well as anyone who ever played the game. He's getting rich from official deals -- sponsorships, ads, etc. -- as well as his under-the-table deals. He's married to a gorgeous rising movie starlet, Dorothy Arnold. And yet, he's a jerk. The drinking and womanizing, the cutting-off any "friend" over the slightest misunderstanding, the Mafia connections, and basically avoiding fighting in World War II. This book rips the facade off DiMaggio.

And then there's Marilyn Monroe. DiMaggio met her just after he retired from baseball at age 36. He was still well above average as a player, but that wasn't good enough for him, for his dignity. And we respect him for that. Marilyn was 25 and a rising star, and DiMaggio fell for her magnetism and vulnerability, just like so many other men did. The book explains how he helped her by teaching her how not to be taken advantage of so severely by the studios (they had her scheduled for 7 films one year), and by slowing down her impossible life speed. But it was an ill-fated love. They were married less than a year, and she left him after being hit by him one too many times (allegedly, the last one was after she did the famous scene with the subway grate in NY). Allegedly, they were due to be remarried on the day she was found dead; DiMaggio never got over it.

After Marilyn's death, DiMaggio's life spiraled into endless rounds of drinks, golf tournaments, "favors" from his friends and women, and so on. In the end, he made millions during the autograph book of the 1980s and 1990s, mostly while stiffing the guys who set up the autograph shows and sold his signed merchandise. He cut off his son, who then died of a drug overdose. He went years without talking with his daughter or granddaughters. He died more or less alone, having outlived all his siblings but brother Dom, with whom he was more or less not on speaking terms for decades.

Bad stuff. The book is the DiMaggio legend, but with the warts. It's remarkable that he got away with such stuff for so many decades. It would likely be impossible in the social media era, given that DiMaggio was out on the town all the time -- at Toots Shor's restaurant, Broadway shows, all the clubs. We worship our heroes to this day, but we also are quick to pounce on them when they lie, cheat or steal. And this book shows us that Joltin' Joe, the Yankee Clipper, did that as much as he thrilled fans on the field.

But bad stuff makes a good book.

[Lukas DiGeronimo]

Movie stars and celebrities are some of the most sought out people in the world. Without them who knows what would be some people’s passions. Perhaps the reason people know anything about a guy named Joe DiMaggio is because he dated Marilyn Monroe. Who would have known anything about this guy, especially before he impacted the game of baseball. He was a poor kid growing up in California. This was in fact before California became a very expensive place to live. What a story, coming out of nothing to becoming the man with the most consecutive hit streak, to becoming something. This book, goes into detail about his personal life and career. If the reader likes stats this is definitely the book to read. The game of baseball is not a complicated game but it can get confusing, especially if a person doesn't know the game. DiMaggio made baseball fun and simple. Baseball has never gone unknown because, of players like Joe. This book details the greatness of one of the best players to ever play the game of baseball. Fame can only get you so far in life, but Joe made himself out of nothing. The fame changed him, but it can change anyone.

[Tim Duff · Rating 4 out of 5]

My third DiMaggio book. Very lonely man isolated because of fame and focused on money and women - in that order. Led astray by his lawyer at the end and died without any real close friend. Great player - one of the best, but a sad tale.

[Kristy Olsgaard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book because it came to my attention that my father's first cousin Violet Koski, the blonde gal from San Francisco, is mentioned on pages 60-62. After reading to that section, I wondered if she'd ever be mentioned again so I continued. Since DiMaggio was retired before I was born, all I knew was he was a great player and loved Marilyn. What an eye opening read! My opinion of Joe was like a roller coaster ride. It changed often. The anticipation of a rising talent coming of age in so many ways. The

[Michael Poelking · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another imperfect hero story. Obviously well researched given the time necessary to write. Started slow for me and those were the baseball years that I was expecting to love. It spends way too much time on Marilyn Monroe, but it did give perspective on two very needy personalities with different goals. Joe comes across as a loner to me and very selfish. A downer of a story, where fame claims another victim as acquaintances prey on his fame.

[John Smiley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me a while to get through this book.

Lots of details about Joe's sales of memorabilia slowed me down significantly.

Half of the book is about his baseball career, the remainder about his business selling memorabilia.

I greatly preferred the first half, but the story of his life wouldn't be complete without the second half.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much of this book seems intent on piercing the dimaggio yankee legend by relating tales of his controlled image, his aloofness, cheapness and generally not very exciting personality. For someone who grew up idolizing dimaggio, I’d imagine this kind of thing might be breathless and shocking reading, but for a more modern reader in today’s day and age such as myself, this type of thing elicited a general shrug of the shoulders. This book, while generally very readable, also took a few unnecessary cheap shots at dimaggios’ expense at times.

That said, the story of his rise to baseball stardom and the many anecdotes of his professional life and parts of his personal life (particularly related to interactions with known mobsters or Hollywood types) were interesting reading, particularly the sections describing dimaggio and monroe’s relationship, where dimaggio even comes off at times as pitiable, even though he apparently was physically and mentally abusive to Monroe at times.

Dimaggio’s early life as a quiet, not hugely personable boy in San Francisco, Sicilian fisherman father

Playing as star in pacific coast league before signing with yankees

Instant stardom with the Yankees and helping to win multiple world series, new ‘hero’ of Yankees, loss in contract dispute

Dimaggio’s 56 game hit streak, marriage to Dorothy Arnold, friendships with some mob characters, treated like royalty, women, free gifts, etc…

Dimaggio’s divorce from Arnold (due to mental cruelty, indifference it would seem, some philandering, though the author doesn’t touch on whether Arnold knew of joe’s indiscretions (or whether she had any of her own?))

Relatively painless three years off from major leagues playing baseball for armed forces during world war 2, ultimate discharge due to ulcers (caused by worry over disintegrating marriage)

Dimaggio’s fading career, in large part due to injuries, takeover of manager Stengel from Joe McCarthy and then arrival of Mickey Mantle

Dimaggio’s retirement after winning world series, lots of money due to mob bank accounts

Very brief less than one year marriage to marilyn Monroe and then Monroe divorcing due to mental and physical? Anguish, subsequent on/off again relationship, deteroriation of Monroe due to drugs and mental health and then death of Monroe right before dimaggio and Monroe were planning to re-marry

Dimaggio’s sad life at the end wringing money out of business ventures/memorabilia and lack of true friends

[Brent Soderstrum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever read a book where you didn't like any of the people in it? Sadly enough that is the case with this book. Cramer tells a story about an ego-maniac who was also one of the greatest baseball players ever. Joe DiMaggio was a cultural icon who won world championship, was married to beautiful women (including Marilyn Monroe) and had songs written about him yet as described in the book Joe was a greedy, self-centered man who hardly ever paid for anything including food, lodging and entertainment. Not a nice guy. People enabled him to be what he became by serving him like he was a king.

The first part of the book is about Joe growing up in San Francisco. It covers his family and the talent he and his brothers had at a game his father didn't understand till much later. His father wanted him to go into the fishing business.

The next part of the book covers his Yankee years and all the World Series championships the Yankees won. I love baseball so I enjoyed this part the most. Each year of his career is covered in depth including his 56 game hitting streak which is amazing. Also Joe's war years are covered here.

The next section of the book covers Marilyn Monroe and his relationship with her. Joe truly loved Marilyn but they had a messed up relationship. He tried to control her and that didn't work. She would run off with other men and he would dissolve to a violent fury of jealousy. Discusses her relationships with the Kennedy brothers, Frank Sinatra and many others. It also goes into detail about her death.

Oddly enough there is a 27 year gap from Marilyn's death in 1962 till the San Francisco earthquake in 1989. Not sure why this part of DiMaggio's life is skipped. The last part of DiMaggio's life is all about greed and Joe trying to make another buck. It covers the baseball memorabilia craze and how Joe would sign anything for an outrageous price. It also discusses DiMaggio's slimy lawyer who basically stole from DiMaggio and did all he could to make as much money off Joe as he could before he died. He tried to hide this though because Joe would go volcanic if he found out someone was trying to make money off his name. He was the one who should make all the money.

Well done book but not a happy happy joy joy story. Great baseball player but not a great human being.

[Joseph Giardina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have mixed feeling about this book. Being that Joe D. was my grandpa’s favorite player, and my dad often talked about how little he ever struck out (~34 times a season on avg), I wanted to learn more about him. I knew the basics: 56-game hit streak, Marilyn Monroe, all those rings. But I knew little about his personality.

After reading this book, it’s apparent Joe D. was in the business of Joe D. He may have been the first athlete to realize his name and likeness is a currency, and he did all he could to protect it publicly. Privately, he was an entirely different person. But I guess we are all like that in a way, and who wouldn’t want to be portrayed as heroic? And that doesn’t even factor in the millions he made off that persona. Most of us aren’t as lucky.

The author often remarks on Joe D.’s cheapness and penny-pinching. Is that the way to describe it? Or is it a poor man who came from nothing and understand the value of a dollar. And a man who didn’t want other less-talented people to make money of his abilities.

The way he treated women-well I can’t reconcile that with the hero he is portrayed to be. But at the same time, while their relationship had its many issues (some known, some hidden), I truly believe after reading this book that Joe D. is the only one who really cared about Marilyn Monroe. Was he controlling? Yes. Demanding and sometimes just mean to her? Yes. But he was the one by her side when times were the worst. Unfortunately he just wasn’t there at the end.

All-in-all, I would recommend this book. But don’t expect to come away feeling very good.

[Larry Hostetler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and thorough. The book seemed to be the result of extensive research, all the more impressive as one reads about the lengths to which DiMaggio went to protect his privacy.

I learned much from the book, and found it to be compelling and yet complete. As I read the acknowledgements I realized the extent to which DiMaggio's life had already been chronicled, and was even more impressed.

This book seemed to neither be a hagiography nor an attempt to show DiMaggio as having feet of clay. Cramer does not shy away from recounting controversies, and shows the reknowned silence that was so associated with DiMaggio as both a character flaw and a strength. (One wonders whether DiMaggio would have gained the mythic stature he achieved with a more forthcoming style.)

However, one is left with a feeling that DiMaggio's character flaws created a solitary and sad ending to a very interesting life, and resulted in the very outcome (being "used") he worked assiduously to avoid throughout his life.

Nonetheless it was a great book to read, and I learned much about Marilyn Monroe as well.

It was definitely a good read.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a baseball fan, the name Joe DiMaggio has such strong connotations, the 56-game streak, the Ted Williams rivalry, the glory days of the Yankees and of course Marilyn Monroe. I never knew much about him, and clearly what I did think I knew was the mythology of the hero. As it turns out, if this biography is to be believed (and there's nothing that causes me to believe it shouldn't be), Mr. DiMaggio was not a nice man. He treated his friends poorly, was cheap as dirt, and a man with a short and violent temper. He was horribly jealous of Marilyn though he was a graceful champ on the field, he is less so off the field. I take no joy in having a myth debunked (even if it is a Yankee), but none of our heroes are perfect I suppose.

This was a very well-written book, especially the baseball moments. It was at times repetitive (yes, we know, Joe never paid for dinner), but otherwise a fascinating insight into a complex man.