Editing Joe DiMaggio (section)

== Early life ==
Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio was born on November 25, 1914, in [[Martinez, California]],<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-aug-08-me-63765-story.html | title=Joe DiMaggio Jr.; Son of Yankees Baseball Legend Led Troubled Life | work=Los Angeles Times | date=August 8, 1999 | access-date=February 14, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190819054218/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-aug-08-me-63765-story.html | archive-date=August 19, 2019 | url-status=live }}</ref> the eighth of nine children born to [[Italians|Italian]] immigrants Giuseppe and Rosalia DiMaggio, from [[Isola delle Femmine]] ([[Sicily]]). His Italian birth name was Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio. Rosalia named her son "Giuseppe" after his father in the hopes he would be her last child; "Paolo" was in honor of Giuseppe's favorite saint, [[Paul of Tarsus]].

Giuseppe was a [[fishing industry|fisherman]], as were generations of DiMaggios before him. DiMaggio's brother Tom told [[Maury Allen]] that Rosalia's father wrote to her saying Giuseppe could earn a better living in California. Giuseppe and Rosalia decided that he would go to the United States for one year: if things were better, he would send for her; if not, he would return home. After being processed on [[Ellis Island]], Giuseppe worked his way across the country, eventually settling near Rosalia's father in [[Pittsburg, California|Pittsburg]], on the east side of the [[San Francisco Bay Area]]. After four years, he had earned enough money to send for Rosalia and their daughter, who was born after he left. When Joe was a toddler, Giuseppe moved his family to the [[North Beach, San Francisco|North Beach]] section of [[San Francisco]].<ref name="Cramer2000" />{{rp|18}} Giuseppe hoped that his five sons would become fishermen.<ref>{{cite web |last=Schwartz |first=Larry |url=https://www.espn.com/sportscentury/features/00014151.html |title=Joltin' Joe was a hit for all reason |work=[[ESPN]] |access-date=March 12, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090205205545/http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00014151.html |archive-date=February 5, 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref>

DiMaggio recalled that he would do anything to get out of cleaning his father's boat, as the smell of dead fish nauseated him. Giuseppe called him "lazy" and "good-for-nothing". At age ten, he took up baseball, playing third base at the North Beach playground near his home. After attending Hancock Elementary and Francisco Middle School, DiMaggio dropped out of [[Galileo Academy of Science and Technology|Galileo High School]] and worked odd jobs.<ref>{{cite book|author-link1=Murry R. Nelson|last1=Nelson|first1=Murry R.|title=American Sports: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas [4 Volumes]: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas|date=2013|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9780313397530|page=347|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tfTXAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA347 |access-date=March 21, 2017|language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Joe DiMaggio SF Seals.jpeg|thumb|left|upright=0.7|A [[baseball card]] of DiMaggio with the [[San Francisco Seals (baseball)|San Francisco Seals]], {{circa|1933–36}}]]
By 1931, DiMaggio was playing semi-pro ball. Nearing the end of the 1932 season, his brother [[Vince DiMaggio|Vince]], playing for the [[San Francisco Seals (PCL)|San Francisco Seals]] of the [[Pacific Coast League]] (PCL), talked his manager into letting DiMaggio fill in at [[shortstop]]. He made his professional debut on October 1, 1932, playing the last three games. In less than two years, DiMaggio made the jump from the playground to the PCL, one notch below the majors.<ref name="Cramer2000" />{{rp|34}} In his full rookie year, from May 27 to July 25, 1933, he [[hit (baseball)|hit]] safely in 61 consecutive games, a PCL-record,<ref>{{cite book |title=Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures |year=2008 |edition=2008 |page=[https://archive.org/details/greatbaseballfea00davi/page/210 210] |first1=David |last1=Nemec |first2=Scott |last2=Flatow |series=A Signet Book |publisher=Penguin Group |location=New York |isbn=978-0-451-22363-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/greatbaseballfea00davi/page/210 }}</ref> and second-longest in [[Minor League Baseball]] history.<ref>{{cite news |last=Kramer |first=Daniel |url=https://www.mlb.com/news/indians-prospect-francisco-mejias-hit-streak/c-192043120 |title=Mejia's epic streak ends, then extends to 50: Official scorer changes controversial error call after game to keep run alive for Indians prospect |work=[[MLB.com]] |date=August 12, 2016 |access-date=August 14, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180202180205/https://www.mlb.com/news/indians-prospect-francisco-mejias-hit-streak/c-192043120 |archive-date=February 2, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> "Baseball didn't really get into my blood until I knocked off that hitting streak," he said. "Getting a daily hit became more important to me than eating, drinking, or sleeping.”

In 1934, DiMaggio suffered a potentially career-threatening knee injury when he tore [[ligament]]s of his right knee while stepping out of a [[Share taxi#United States|jitney]]. Convinced the injury would heal, Yankees scout [[Bill Essick]] pestered his bosses to give DiMaggio another look. After he passed a physical, the team bought him for $50,000 and five players, with the Seals keeping him for the 1935 season.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/history/timeline2.jsp|title=Yankees Timeline|work=New York Yankees|access-date=September 21, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906014545/http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/history/timeline2.jsp|archive-date=September 6, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> DiMaggio [[batting average (baseball)|batted]] .398 with 154 [[runs batted in]] (RBIs) and 34 home runs. The Seals won the 1935 PCL title, and he was named the league's Most Valuable Player.