He had a general interest in baseball, however, Joe wasn’t the one who loved baseball, Vince, his brother, was. If he played anything it was tennis. His attitude on baseball was this: there was no money in it, so what was it good for? But he did find his liking for the game again when he joined a team with his friends – for the shoes. Joe got his introduction to baseball through Vince who was playing with the Seals.

If he was going to play, we was going to win. This motto not only applied to his baseball career, but also his life. In anything he did, he always did his best. He expected this of others as well. Joe never liked to wait – if you showed up later you could get screwed. He didn’t try to be like anyone else, and didn’t interfere in others fights, although he did have a funny attitude about people watching him. He was sure they always did. That was fine on the field, but not in real life, where he could show a disadvantage – it made him edgy. He was an introvert who was exceptionally withdrawn, smug and head strong. He was extremely intelligent, always managing to avoid things which would hurt his reputation - if it damaged his image he would not be involved in it.

Joe's first date with Marilyn Monroe, was a double date at The Villa Nova. The other two were there on time, DiMaggio took a cab and arrived 15mins later. Another hour passed and still Monroe hadn’t arrived. She was two hours late. He said, “I’m glad to meet you” and fell silent for the rest of the evening. She was seated next to him and had nothing to say to him. So she chatted to the others about her picture she was filming “Monkey Business”. Marilyn was a bit vague on who DiMaggio was. She offered him a ride home and he suggested a drive around. It never occurred to him to ask why she wanted to meet him. The problem was, the news was out that she had a naked calendar. In 1952, girls didn’t pose nude. If she was seen with Joe, her image would be saved. He was old fashioned, and conservative and left a picnic when his first wife, Dorothy, attended a picnic in a two piece bathing suit.

He knew he could help her. Here was someone he could watch over. She was just a sweet kid. She could get eaten alive – everybody wanting a chunk of her. He could see that already, the way she was with the writers and the photographers – it was like they owned her. Stand here, do this, hold that .. and she’d jump. All excited. They wanted to make her picture! The kid didn’t know the ropes, how to say no. Joe knew. And he was trying to teach her. He was on the phone every night, with advice, encouragement, warnings, like a long distance manager. “She needed a strong man to be around to wrest her from the clutches of those Hollywood assholes” he said. How could an old world Italian man that was so conservative, shy and inward get along with a wife who didn’t wear underpants?

It did him so much good to talk to her about her work and what she saw as her accomplishments, however, Joe never realized that all her good news was carrying her farther from the life he saw for them. The life he thought she saw too.

When they reconciled towards the end of her death, Joe wanted her to feel safe with him – and that meant showing her he’d changed. He wanted her to know he could take care of her without taking over. He didn’t remonstrate about her habits – never said a bad thing about her work.