From L to R: Vince DiMaggio, Joe DiMaggio, dom DiMaggio. Image via Wikipedia.com- Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection at the UCLA Library. Copyright for the photographs in the archive was deeded to UCLA. The bulk of images digitized from the archive have been published by UCLA under a CC-BY 4.0 license.

Baseball Legend Joe DiMaggio Owed His Career To His Brother Vince But They Drifted Apart

The MLB stars grew distant as their playing careers took them in different directions

Outfielder Joe DiMaggio was such a skilled baseball player that simply mentioning his name requires little in the way of context when attempting to convey his impact on the game. The Hall-of-Famer was so remarkable that there were even songs written about him. However, the “Yankee Clipper” wasn’t the only ball player in his family, and not even the only one who played in the major leagues. One of his two big league siblings was Vince DiMaggio (The other was outfielder Dom DiMaggio) , who had a fine playing career himself, despite playing in the shadow of such an icon. Unfortunately, they drifted apart as they grew older and no longer played.

The son of a San Francisco fisherman, Joe DiMaggio played 13 seasons with the New York Yankees (1936–1942; 1946–1951), missing three full years during World War II because of military service. He was an All Star in every season he played. He also won three MVP awards, and received MVP votes in all but his final season in large part because of being a star on 10 World Series teams, including nine that won championships. The right-handed hitter batted a combined .325 in his career (including two…