--- title: Joe DiMaggio: Early Photos of a Baseball Legend description: On his 100th birthday, LIFE remembers Joe DiMaggio with photos made in 1939, when the Yankee Clipper was a 24-year-old star canonical: https://time.com/3597657/life-with-joe-dimaggio-early-photos-of-a-baseball-phenom/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-23T18:16:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:06:59.625Z og:title: Joe DiMaggio: Early Photos of a Baseball Legend og:description: On his 100th birthday, LIFE remembers Joe DiMaggio with photos made in 1939, when the Yankee Clipper was a 24-year-old star og:url: https://time.com/3597657/life-with-joe-dimaggio-early-photos-of-a-baseball-phenom/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt204a3fcfbc7b737f/698769fb55a859245da843ba/141120-joe-dimaggio-05.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2322 og:image:height: 1306 og:image:alt: Joe DiMaggio 1939 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Joe DiMaggio: Early Photos of a Baseball Legend twitter:description: On his 100th birthday, LIFE remembers Joe DiMaggio with photos made in 1939, when the Yankee Clipper was a 24-year-old star twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt204a3fcfbc7b737f/698769fb55a859245da843ba/141120-joe-dimaggio-05.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # LIFE With Joe DiMaggio: Early Photos of a Baseball Phenom > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Nov 23, 2014 6:16 PM UTC  Joe DiMaggio with Yankee Hall of Fame manager Joe McCarthy, 1939. Joe DiMaggio with Yankee Hall of Fame manager Joe McCarthy, 1939. Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Nov 23, 2014 6:16 PM UTC Writing about Joe DiMaggio’s career on the diamond is a bit like writing about a great work of art: every time you touch on an especially memorable aspect, two or three more present themselves as equally worthy of mention. So where does one start? The [56-game hitting streak](http://www.baseball-almanac.com/feats/feats3.shtml)? The .325 career batting average? The three MVP awards? The nine World Series titles? The skill with the glove? The patience at the plate (the best homer-to-strikeout ratio for any player with at least 300 home runs)? Maybe Yogi Berra put it best when he was asked, of all his legendary teammates, who was the greatest. “Joe DiMaggio,” [Yogi told LIFE.com](http://life.time.com/culture/yogi-berra-a-baseball-legend-pays-tribute-to-friends-and-foes/), without hesitation. “I played with him for five seasons, and never saw him do anything wrong.” Here, on his 100th birthday (he was born Nov. 25, 1914, in Martinez, Calif.), LIFE.com remembers Joltin’ Joe with photos made in 1939 by Carl Mydans, when DiMaggio was a 24-year-old phenom. The middle brother of three (the older Vince, the younger Dom) who went on to play pro ball, Joe DiMaggio spent his whole career with the Yankees. For countless people, he’s a symbol of an era in American sports when baseball, boxing and horse racing — but especially baseball — reigned. He was so good at what he did, and he made even the most difficult aspects of a notoriously difficult game look so effortless, that even fans who hated the Yankees could appreciate how singular a ballplayer he really was. Long before he married Marilyn; long before he was a pitchman for Mr. Coffee; long before he was so much a part of the cultural landscape that entertainers from Woody Guthrie and Simon & Garfunkel to Madonna and Demi Lovato name-checked him in songs, DiMaggio was turning heads with his skills. Happy 100th, Yankee Clipper. We won’t see your like again.  Joe DiMaggio LIFE Cover May 1, 1939 Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Joe DiMaggio 1939 Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Joe DiMaggio in the dugout during Yankees game against the Brooklyn Dodgers, 1939. Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Joe DiMaggio, 1939. Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Joe DiMaggio with Yankee Hall of Fame manager Joe McCarthy, 1939. Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Joe DiMaggio, 1939. Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Sliding pants are worn under Di Maggios pants. Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Joe DiMaggio (right) shares a laugh, 1939. Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Joe DiMaggio playing catch during warm-up before game vs. the Dodgers, 1939. Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The one and only Lou Gehrig -- the Yankees' captain -- and Joe DiMaggio watch batting practice, 1939\. Not long after this picture was shot, Gehrig retired, after playing 2,130 consecutive games; that summer, he gave his famous "Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth" speech at Yankee Stadium. Gehrig died two years later, in June 1941, of complications from ALS -- now commonly known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease." Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Joe DiMaggio at bat, 1939. Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Joe DiMaggio and fans, 1939. Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Joe DiMaggio with sailors, 1939. Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Yankee's Joe DiMaggio at bat, LIFE Magazine May 1, 1939. 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