17/11/2025
Throughout center fielder Joe DiMaggio’s years with the New York Yankees, 1936 to 1942 and 1946 to 1951, the team won nine World Series championships, and DiMaggio set a record for the longest hitting streak — 56 games from May 15 to July 16, 1941, a record still unbroken by any Major League Baseball player.
While away from the Yankees for three years, DiMaggio served in the military during World War II.
On Feb. 17, 1943, DiMaggio enlisted in the Army Air Forces in San Francisco. He then went to Santa Ana Air Base, Calif., for training.
Before entering the service, he earned about $43,000 a year as a baseball player, and as an Army airman, his annual salary dropped to a meager $600. DiMaggio reportedly applied for combat duty but was rejected and instead served out his enlistment stateside as a physical education instructor.
Throughout center fielder Joe DiMaggio’s years with the New York Yankees, 1936 to 1942 and 1946 to 1951, the team won nine World Series championships, and DiM