1999 – death of Joe DiMaggio, American baseball player. Joseph Paul "Joe" DiMaggio (November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999), born Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio, nicknamed "Joltin' Joe" and "The Yankee Clipper," was an Italian-American Major League Baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career for the New York Yankees. He is perhaps best known for his 56-game hitting streak (May 15 – July 16, 1941), a record that still stands. DiMaggio was a three-time MVP winner and an All-Star in each of his 13 seasons. During his tenure with the Yankees, the club won ten American League pennants and nine World Series championships. As Jimmy Breslin famously observed, "Baseball isn't statistics, it's Joe DiMaggio rounding second base." DiMaggio married Marilyn Monroe in 1954 and he re-entered Monroe's life as her marriage to Arthur Miller was ending. On February 10, 1961, he secured her release from Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic. According to Maury Allen's biography, DiMaggio was alarmed at how Monroe had fallen in with people he felt detrimental to her well-being. Val Monette, owner of a military post-exchange supply company, told Allen that DiMaggio left his employ on August 1, 1962 because he had decided to ask Monroe to remarry him. She was found dead on August 5. DiMaggio's son had spoken to Monroe on the phone the night of her death and claimed that she seemed fine. Her death was deemed a probable suicide, but has been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories. Devastated, DiMaggio claimed her body and arranged her funeral, barring Hollywood's elite. He had a half-dozen red roses delivered three times a week to her crypt for 20 years. He refused to talk about her publicly or otherwise exploit their relationship. He never married again. When he died in 1999, his last words were "I'll finally get to see Marilyn."
