Activist Touts Allegations Of Mob Ties In Decrying Removal Of Chicago's Joe DiMaggio Statue
Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio (November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999), aka Joltin’ Joe, the Yankee Clipper, played centerfield for the Yankees, achieved an historic 56-game hitting streak in 1941, and won legendary status. (Decades later, in 1978, he started appearing in Mr. Coffee commercials and helped transform the automatic drip coffeemaker into an iconic household appliance.) Removal of Joe DiMaggio statue from Chicago's Piazza DiMaggio. DiMaggio was born in California, raised in San Francisco, became legendary playing ball in New York, died in Florida, and was memorialized in Chicago courtesy of Piazza DiMaggio , a much-cherished plot of land on Taylor and Bishop Streets in Chicago's Little Italy section that boasted a statue of DiMaggio's likeness. The Hall's first inductee in 1978, DiMaggio attended the 1991 unveiling ceremony for his statue, which had been sculpted by Ferdinand Rebecchini. Standing more than 11 feet tall, for 20 years, the Joe DiMaggio statue stood ac...