HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- Joe DiMaggio, the elegant Yankee Clipper whose 56-game hitting streak endures as one of the most remarkable records in baseball or any sport, died Monday at his home in Hollywood, Fla. He was 84.DiMaggio, who underwent lung cancer surgery in October and battled a series of complications for weeks afterward, died shortly after midnight, said Morris Engelberg, his longtime friend and attorney.
At his bedside were his brother Dominick, two grandchildren, Engelberg, and Joe Nacchio, his friend for 59 years.
His body will be flown to California for burial in his home town of San Francisco. The funeral will be held there Thursday. No other details were available.
"DiMaggio, the consummate gentleman on and off the field, fought his illness as hard as he played the game of baseball and with the same dignity, style and grace with which he lived his life," said Engelberg, DiMaggio's next-door neighbor.
When DiMaggio left the hospital on Jan. 19, he was invited by New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner to throw out the ceremonial first ball at the Yankees' home opener April 9. After DiMaggio came home from the hospital, a sign was placed on his bed saying "April 9 Yankee Stadium or Bust."
The New York Yankees' center fielder roamed the basepaths for 13 years through 1951, missing three seasons to serve in World War II. During that time he played for 10 pennant winners and nine World Series champions, batted .325 and hit 361 home runs.
But more than anything it was The Streak, during the magical summer of '41, that riveted a country fresh from the Depression and elevated him from baseball star to national celebrity.
He ascended even higher atop the rank of popular culture in 1954 when he wed Marilyn Monroe, a storybook marriage that failed all too quickly and left him broken-hearted. For years after she died in 1962, DiMaggio sent roses for her grave but refused to talk about her.
His swanky swing and classy countenance inspired wistful lines in literature and song, including Paul Simon's lament to lost heroes in "Mrs. Robinson" from the movie "The Graduate":
"Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?
"A nation turns its lonely eyes to you.
"What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson?
"Joltin' Joe has left and gone away."
Indeed, but his legend stands -- shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and very few others who could measure up to them on the sports scene this century.
He won three American League Most Valuable Player awards, appeared in 11 All-Star games and entered the Hall of Fame in 1955. For half a century, he was introduced as "the greatest living player."
Yet DiMaggio's exceptional numbers don't account fully for his almost legendary place on the American cultural landscape, the reason why Simon sang about him and Ernest Hemingway wrote about him. There was something about the courtly bearing of this son of Italian immigrants that made him special.
"I would like to take the great DiMaggio fishing," the ancient Cuban fisherman says in Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea." "They say his father was a fisherman. Maybe he was as poor as we are and would understand."
A handsome man of quiet strength -- unpretentious, proud and intensely private -- DiMaggio embodied the kind of hero parents wanted their sons to emulate. He had class, on and off the field.
Though unusually shy, DiMaggio also could come across as your friendly neighbor, as he did in his later years, touting the virtues of a savings bank and "Mr. Coffee" on television to a generation that never saw him play. In more recent years, he devoted himself to his grandchildren and four great-grandchildren and to raising money for the Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital in Hollywood, Fla.
No ballplayer ever heard more cheers than DiMaggio did during The Streak. There was a song written about it, and crowds waited for him to come to town. In city after city, he kept The Streak alive, getting at least one hit in every game from May 15 until July 17 in Cleveland -- 56 games. No one has come close since.
During an appearance in 1991, commemorating the 50th anniversary of The Streak, DiMaggio expressed surprise it was still a record.
"There are a lot of great ballplayers," he said. "One day, someone's going to come along and break it. But I've been saying that for 50 years."
Pete Rose fell 12 games short of tying DiMaggio during his best challenge in 1978.
During The Streak, DiMaggio batted .408 with 91 hits in 223 at-bats, 15 homers and 55 RBIs.
It took a pair of remarkable fielding plays by third baseman Ken Keltner in the 57th game to stop DiMaggio. He then immediately began another streak of 16 games -- meaning he batted safely in 72 of 73 games.
DiMaggio arrived in New York in May 1936, at age 21. He introduced himself to Yankees fans with two singles and a triple in his first game, and never slowed until retirement.
Paying tribute to DiMaggio and fellow slugger Ted Williams in a 1991 White House salute, President George Bush said their military service "deprived them of even greater statistics but also enhanced their greatness in the eyes of Americans."
DiMaggio battled a string of injuries during his career and seven times missed opening day. He underwent three operations within two years for bone spurs in his heels and bone chips in his arm.
In 1949, an inflamed heel kept him sidelined for 65 games. When he returned to the lineup, his home run helped the Yankees beat Boston 5-4, and he went on to bat .500 in their three-game series. It was as if he'd never been gone.
DiMaggio decided to call it quits at age 37. It was not a sudden decision.
The Yankees won the World Series in his final year, and he finished with a flourish. He hit a home run in the fourth game, and had six hits in 11 at-bats.
DiMaggio was born on Nov. 25, 1914, in Martinez, Calif. His father operated a fishing boat in San Francisco and expected his sons to follow in his footsteps. But Joe and brothers Vince and Dom spent most of their time playing baseball.
The elder DiMaggio called it "a bum's game," but he lived to see all three of his boys become professional players. Dom, the youngest, played with the Boston Red Sox. Vince, the eldest, was with five National League teams.
DiMaggio earned $7,500 in his first year, but got $100,000 in each of his final three seasons, making him the highest-paid player of his time. He made more than that in recent years just for signing his name at baseball memorabilia shows.
He is survived by his brother, Dominick; a son, Joe Jr.; two grandchildren, Paula and Cathy; and four great-grandchildren.