Joe DiMaggio

New York Yankees center fielder Joe DiMaggio, left, starting his third season with the Yankees, shakes hands with team owner Colonel Jacob Ruppert in New York, April 25, 1938, as Yankees executive Ed Barrow beams for the press. For many months, DiMaggio had stubbornly held out for $40,000 -- more than Lou Gehrig was making. A month before the signing, while the rest of the club was at spring training, DiMaggio was still in San Francisco. At that time, he said,