Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil (review)

Jerome Charyn intertwines Joe DiMaggio’s near flawless baseball career with his distant and dysfunctional personal life in Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil. Charyn, a prominent novelist who has taught at Stanford, Princeton, and the American University of Paris, is a perfect choice to broadcast Joe DiMaggio’s legend as part of the Icons of America series. The reader learns that the “Jolter’s” legendary baseball career and impact as an American idol only magnified following his courtship of, marriage to, and divorce from Marilyn Monroe. The fluid prose is supplemented with endnotes, chronology, and bibliography, which makes Joe DiMaggio readable for both the casual fan and academic. However, baseball buffs looking for in-depth analysis of DiMaggio’s career will be disappointed as Charyn focuses more on his effect on American society.

The first half of the book centers on DiMaggio’s baseball career from his start with the San Francisco Seals in the Pacific Coast League to his thirteen-year career with the New York Yankees. Charyn notes the way DiMaggio gracefully played defense in centerfield, the fifty-six-game hitting streak in 1941, and the three Most Valuable Player (MVP) seasons (1939, 1941, and 1947). Also included is Charyn’s contrast between DiMaggio’s and Ted Williams’s personalities and playing styles, most notably how DiMaggio detested going to World War II, whereas Williams excelled in the military. Specifically, Charyn argues DiMaggio was a lost soul while serving from 1942–1945: “It was as if his armor had been torn away and he was left with nothing to fill the void of a world without baseball” (44).

The author’s recollection of personally cheering on his subject at Yankee Stadium is a unique perspective on DiMaggio’s mystique that does not infringe upon the historical accuracy of the story. Charyn mentions DiMaggio’s personal relationships with his father, Giuseppe, who thought Joe should be working instead of playing baseball; his two brothers, Vince and Dom, who also became Major League Baseball players; and his marriage and divorce to Dorothy Arnold that produced a son, Joe Jr. However, the brunt of Joe’s off-field experiences is described in Part II, entitled “The Demon Lover.”

The last half of the book delves into DiMaggio’s dark personal life that revolved around a perverse infatuation with Marilyn Monroe. Charyn describes DiMaggio and Monroe’s riotous relationship in chapter six, entitled “The Princess of Yankee Stadium; chapter seven, entitled “Mr. Marilyn Monroe; and chapter eight, entitled “Bigger Than the Statue of Liberty.” Their short nine-month marriage was doomed from the start, as Marilyn had an affair with her voice coach Hal Schaefer. The breaking point occurred when DiMaggio beat Marilyn after she filmed the iconic blowing skirt scene in The Seven Year Itch. Marilyn filed for divorce three weeks later, but DiMaggio still stalked Marilyn during her marriage with playwright Arthur Miller. The most shocking case that exemplifies DiMaggio’s relentless fascination was his cross-country courtships of numerous Marilyn Monroe look-a-likes. Nevertheless, after her marriage with Miller and liaisons with President John Kennedy, Senator Robert Kennedy, and Frank Sinatra, the blonde bombshell gave into Joe’s persistent pursuit and agreed to marry him again on August 8, 1962. However, Marilyn was found dead in her bedroom after an apparent drug overdose and left Joe organizing her funeral on August 8, when the two should have been saying their vows for the second time.

DiMaggio attempted to grieve through autograph and memorabilia shows for a lump sum under the advisement of Morris Engelberg, whose admiration for the “Jolter” began as a child and continued into adulthood by copying DiMaggio’s wardrobe. A lawyer by trade, Engelberg became DiMaggio’s financial advisor, booking agent, and closest friend following the death of Marilyn Monroe and the mutual estrangement with Joe Jr. Charyn explains that DiMaggio received criticism for his reclusive and frugal nature in latter stages of his life, even though he had stints as the coach and...