Joe DiMaggio was one of the most gifted batters in pro baseball history. (Ted Williams once called him "the greatest all-around player I ever saw.") A center fielder for the New York Yankees, DiMaggio was best known for getting a hit in a 56 straight games in 1941, a streak that still stands as a major league record. DiMaggio's graceful demeanor and extraordinary talent made him one of the great popular heroes of his day and earned him the nicknames "Joltin' Joe" and "The Yankee Clipper." He played all of his 13 big-league seasons for the Yankees (1936-42, 1946-51) before retiring in 1951. He was briefly married to actress Marilyn Monroe in 1954, and his continued devotion after their divorce was legendary: for years after her death in 1962 he sent flowers weekly to her grave. In the 1970's and '80s he was a familiar television pitchman for Mr. Coffee automatic coffeemakers. DiMaggio was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1955.

Extra credit: DiMaggio wore uniform #5 and hit and threw right-handed... His baseball career was interrupted for three years while he served in the Army Air Corps during World War II... DiMaggio was the subject of the 2000 biography A Hero's Life by Richard Ben Cramer... The phrase "Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?" comes from the Simon and Garfunkel song "Mrs. Robinson"... DiMaggio was played by actor Scott Bakula in the short-lived Broadway play Marilyn in 1983... DiMaggio's gravestone reads "Grace, dignity and elegance personified"... Other famous New York Yankees include Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle and Jim Bouton.