Joltin Joe Didn't Go Away

There are sports legends. There are places where sports are talked about. There are a handful of sports players that become bigger than a sport and become pop-culture figures. Joe DiMaggio was one of those figures.

Joe DiMaggio traveled in celebrity circles and met woman from all parts of the country. DiMaggio married actress-starlet Dorothy Arnold. The marriage didn't last. His second marriage was to Hollywood icon, Marilyn Monroe. This marriage would be the stuff of myth, fantasy and rumor. Dorothy Arnold married a famous baseball player and quit acting. She found her guy and settled down to raise a family, it was 1940s. Joe had no plan to settle down. She wanted to stay home, but not be blind to what her husband did outside. The marriage to Monroe was the opposite. It's been said that he wanted to settle down and she wanted to go out and about. The iconic image of Monroe for Seven Year Itch of the subway vent blowing her skirt up, lead to a squabble. Monroe laughed at the image, Joe didn't want his wife seen like that. 

(Check out Joe and Kelly's marriage issues in Dear Pen Pal.)

That famous marriage of two icons fell apart pretty quick. Many modern books portray Monroe as a delicate flower and DiMaggio as someone as used her. Some books called the marriage romantic but it couldn't survive such outside circumstances. Whatever the truth, whatever your feelings, DiMaggio had flowers at Monroe's grave every year he was alive. 

Joe DiMaggio left baseball. He became a spokesperson for Bowery Bank. For someone like me born in the 1970, he was the spokesman for Mr. Coffee.

He was immortalized in music as well. Simon and Garfunkle name dropped him in Mrs. Robinson, also in The Lemonhead's version. Tori Amos mentioned him in Father Lucifer. If you want to hear a quirky song, check out Tim Curry's I Do thenRock. Ole Joe DiMaggio makes an appearance in John Fogerty's hit Centerfield.

In then 1990s, the television show, Seinfeld had a show devoted to seeing if Joe DiMaggio dunked donoughts in coffee. Check out a show called "The Note." The go-to,podcast on all things Seinfeld, Seincast has a podcast about this, podcast number 19.