Joe DiMaggio's Father Was A Target Of Xenophobia During WWII Despite His Son's Fame

Publish date: 2024-05-08

Among these older Italian fishermen was one, Giuseppe DiMaggio, who the government not only barred from getting to the coast to earn his living fishing but kept him from being able to go to the restaurant his sons owned at Fisherman's Wharf, where he took great pride in preparing his beloved spicy fisherman's stew for the guests. The family had owned the restaurant, "Joe DiMaggio's Grotto," since 1937 when Giuseppe's son Joe had supposedly invested $25,000 in the business, money earned through his skills on the ball field.

While Giuseppe suffered under the strictures of a xenophobic wartime policy, his son was being hailed as Joltin' Joe, America's baseball hero. In 1941, the New York Yankees' star player made history with his record 56-game hitting streak. Joe DiMaggio, Giuseppe and Rosalie's eighth child of nine, was born in 1914 in Martinez, California. Instead of following in his father's footsteps, he focused on baseball, dropping out of high school at 16 to pursue the sport full-time, and by 1936 earned a spot with the Yankees.

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