This Day in Sports History

January 14, 1954 – New York Yankees legend Joe DiMaggio tied the knot with film superstar Marilyn Monroe at a civil ceremony in San Francisco City Hall. It’s not the first marriage of a major sports figure with someone in the entertainment industry (several years earlier, New York Giants manager Leo Durocher had married Lorraine Day), nor will it be the last (David Justice and Halle Berry would marry in the 1990s). But the DiMaggio-Monroe union still ranks as the one with the most marquee value.

The two celebrities enjoyed ambivalent relationships with the press that created their legends. Many sportswriters, like fans, worshipped “The Yankee Clipper” as a hero, but DiMaggio was an often-aloof loner who, in the words of teammate Eddie Lopat, “led the league in room service.” In countless photographs from pinups, movie stills and film openings, Monroe had been built up into her generation’s great symbol. But the public craving for photographs had become so insatiable that she felt increasingly compelled to spend hours primping in front of a mirror before stepping out the door.

The two met after DiMaggio had retired after a career that included several World Series trophies with the Yankees and a 56-game consecutive hitting streak. Monroe’s career was on the upswing. The two’s first date did not begin auspiciously (neither was very interested in the other’s profession, and Monroe, in a pattern that would continue with her film work, was too hours later). But the actress was attracted to older men and DiMaggio to blondes, and eventually they hit it off.

The newlyweds were on a trip to Japan the following month when Monroe made a morale-boosting appearance for American troops in Korea. She credited her past appearances there with boosting her career, since she received so many letters from GIs that her film studio began offering her bigger parts. This time, she receives an equally tumultuous reception. When she re-joined her husband, she told him: "You never heard such cheering." DiMaggio, still not far removed from his own playing days, replied, "Yes, I have."

The remark was a clue to the jealousy that would unravel the marriage. A scene in the Billy Wilder film The Seven-Year Itch required that Monroe’s skirt blow up while she was standing over a subway grate. Though filming for the scene was done at night, thousands of fans were showing up at Lexington and 52nd Street in New York to see the star, and paparazzi flashbulbs were flashing so incessantly that the film’s frustrated director, Billy Wilder, agreed to a deal: in return for allowing Monroe to pose, they would let him film unimpeded.

DiMaggio, who didn’t think much of the film business, was not thrilled by the scene. Afterward the couple fought, and Monroe filed for divorce.

In 1961, after Monroe had married and divorced playwright Arthur Miller, she and DiMaggio began to see each other again. The former couple were even considering remarriage, DiMaggio told associates.

By this time, however, Monroe’s star was the one in descent, with the aging sex symbol increasingly addicted to pills and tiresome to producers, directors and co-stars weary of the delays caused by her substance abuse.

On August 4, 1962, DiMaggio received the news that his ex-wife had died. Since the star had no immediate family, the Yankee Clipper assumed the responsibility for arranging the funeral. He barred photographers, most of the Hollywood community, and John and Robert Kennedy (rumors were already circulating about her affairs with both of them) from the funeral, blaming them for her death. For the next two decades, the heartbroken DiMaggio had flowers delivered to her grave twice a week.