Joe DiMaggio missed three prime years of playing time, 1943 through 1945, because he enlisted in the United States Army on February 17, 1943, to serve his country during World War II. Here are a few additional numbers of interest as they relate to The Yankee Clipper, a ballplayer that Ted Williams described as, "the greatest all-around player I ever saw":



2 - Joe DiMaggio won two batting championships, hitting .381 in 1939 (Top 25) and .352 in 1940 (Top 25). Joe was the third New York Yankees player to win a batting title, behind Babe Ruth (.378 in 1924) and Lou Gehrig (.363 in 1934), and the first two win it more than once.

3 - Joe DiMaggio won three Most Valuable Player Awards. He was the first New York Yankees player to win it more than once after he captured his second MVP in 1941, and when he won again in 1947, he was the first Yankee to win it three times.

5 - Joe DiMaggio wore #5 for the Bronx Bombers during twelve of his thirteen seasons, a number the Yanks retired in 1952. Why didn't he wear #5 in 1936? Because Frankie Crosetti was wearing it, had used it regularly since 1932, and DiMaggio had to use #9 his rookie season instead.

11 - Joe DiMaggio was ranked eleventh by The Sporting News when they released their list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players in the history of baseball.

13 - Joe DiMaggio appeared in thirteen All-Star Games (1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942 & 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951), one for every single season he appeared in the major leagues.

44.3 - Joe DiMaggio was on the Hall of Fame ballot in 1953, received 44.3% of the votes, and finished eighth overall in his first year of eligibility after retiring. Two players were elected that year, Dizzy Dean (79.2%) and Al Simmons (75.4%). Those ahead of DiMaggio who weren't elected that season were Bill Terry (72.3%), Bill Dickey (67.8%), Rabbit Maranville (62.1%), Dazzy Vance (56.8%) and Ted Lyons (52.7%).

48 - Joe DiMaggio made his debut on May 3, 1936, and went three-for-six at the plate. By the end of the month (Game by Game Batting Logs), Joe had 48 hits (the most by a rookie during their first month), was batting .381, and only went hitless in two games.

56 - Joe DiMaggio hit safely in 56 consecutive games (The Streak). Commissioner Ford Frick (in 1973) called it one of the Marks That Will Never Be Broken, ranking it eighth overall.

69.4 - Joe DiMaggio was on the Hall of Fame ballot in 1954, received 69.4% of the votes, and finished fourth in his second year of eligibility after retiring. Three players were elected that year, Rabbit Maranville (82.9%), Bill Dickey (80.2%) and Bill Terry (77.4%).

88.8 - Joe DiMaggio was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1955, received 88.8% of the votes, finishing first on the ballot in his third year of eligibility after retiring. He was inducted that year alongside Ted Lyons (86.5%), Dazzy Vance (81.7%) and Gabby Hartnett (77.7%).

274 - Joe DiMaggio was married to Marilyn Monroe on January 14, 1954, and 274 days after they eloped, Monroe filed for a divorce. Fast forward forty-five years, and according to ABC News report (Link), when Joltin' Joe passed away his final words were, "I'll finally get to see Marilyn."

361 - Joe DiMaggio finished his career with 361 home runs, which at the time, ranked him fifth overall on the Top 1,000 list in Major League history. The sluggers who were ahead of him were 1. Babe Ruth (714), 2. Jimmie Foxx (534), 3. Mel Ott (511) and 4. Lou Gehrig (493).

369 - Joe DiMaggio struck out only 369 times across his entire career, which included 6,821 times at bat. Only 5.4% of his at-bats resulted in a strikeout (Top 1,000), one strikeout every 18.5 times at bat.

100,000 - Joe DiMaggio signed a landmark contract on February 7, 1949, a $100,000 deal to play baseball - the first baseball player in history to reach the plateau.