FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- New York Yankees legend Joe DiMaggio, whose classic swing and classy persona made him one of the most revered sports figures of the 20th century, died early yesterday after a five-month battle with lung cancer. He was 84.

Mr. DiMaggio passed away at his Hollywood, Fla., home from complications after the removal of a cancerous tumor from his lung last October. His funeral will be Thursday in Northern California, with burial in the San Francisco area, where he grew up and began his professional baseball career.

"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 Morris Engelberg, his close friend and longtime spokesman.

While best remembered for the record 56-game hitting streak that enraptured a nation during the final summer before the United States entered World War II, Joe DiMaggio was one of the pillars of a long-running Yankees dynasty that began with the arrival of Babe Ruth in 1920 and lasted until the waning years of the Mickey Mantle era.

Babe Ruth. Lou Gehrig. Joe DiMaggio. Mickey Mantle.

They are the four horsemen of Yankees legend. Babe Ruth was the charismatic, hard-living superstar of the Roaring '20s. Lou Gehrig was the tragic, inspirational figure of the '30s. Mickey Man tle would eventually replace Joe DiMaggio in the Yankees outfield in the early '50s, but not before Joltin' Joe -- the Yankee Clipper -- had become a sports hero of near-mythical proportion.

Of song and story

So great that Ernest Hemingway referred to him as "the great DiMaggio" in his classic novel, "The Old Man and the Sea."

"I would like to take the great DiMaggio fishing," the ancient Cuban fisherman says in one of Mr. Hemingway's best-known works. "They say his father was a fisherman. Maybe he was as poor as we are and would understand."

So great that he was voted baseball's greatest living player in a poll conducted during the celebration of professional baseball's centennial season in 1969.

So great that nearly two decades after he played his last game, his name evoked nostalgic ruminations even among the self-absorbed purveyors of pop culture in the late 1960s.

"Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?" sang Simon and Garfunkel in 1968. "A nation turns its lonely eyes to you."

'A private person'

Mr. DiMaggio, of course, hadn't gone anywhere. The shy, modest superstar had simply gone home to reclaim his private life, shunning celebrity at a time when it was becoming a national obsession.

"Joe is a private person and very shy," Mr. Engelberg said in an interview last month.

Joe DiMaggio had been a huge star in his own right, and the spotlight only got brighter after he married movie star Marilyn Monroe in 1954. Though the couple divorced less than a year later, he was devastated when she died of a drug overdose in 1962.

Mr. DiMaggio, still very close to Ms. Monroe, fought to maintain the dignity of her funeral and, for many years after, sent flowers to her grave, but never talked about her publicly.

He had been the toast of the town in the biggest city in the world, but was never comfortable in the limelight. He was the television spokesman for Mr. Coffee and a savings and loan, and served on the Orioles' board of directors, but had lived unobtrusively for much of the past four decades. Mr. DiMaggio appeared occasionally at important baseball events -- such as Cal Ripken's 2,131st consecutive game in 1995 -- but chose to spend his later years quietly in South Florida, where his charitable efforts helped fund the construction of a children's hospital that bears his name.

Life of achievement

"I wish I could have gotten to see him play," Mr. Ripken said yesterday. "I feel fortunate and lucky that at certain times I had the opportunity to talk baseball with him. That was a great honor. His accomplishments speak for themselves. I really appreciate the way he spent time with me."

"This son of Italian immigrants gave every American something to believe in," President Clinton said. "He became the very symbol of American grace, power and skill. I have no doubt that when future generations look back at the best of America in the 20th century, they will think of the Yankee Clipper and all that he achieved."

The testimonials have been coming in since January, when it became apparent that Mr. DiMaggio was gravely ill. He spent 99 days in the hospital after surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his lung and lapsed briefly into a coma.

He confounded his doctors and recovered enough to be released from the hospital on Jan. 19, creating hope that he might keep a date to throw out the ceremonial first ball at Yankee Stadium on Opening Day, but died shortly after midnight yesterday with his brother Dom, two grandchildren, Mr. Engelberg and close friend Joe Nacchio at his side.

Respect of generations

"For several generations of baseball fans, Joe was the personification of grace, class and dignity on the baseball diamond," said baseball Commissioner Bud Selig in a statement. "His persona extended beyond the playing field and touched all our hearts. In many respects, as an immigrant's son, he represented the hopes and ideals of our great country."

The flag outside the Baseball Hall of Fame was lowered to half-staff and a wreath was placed around Mr. DiMaggio's plaque. The American flags also were lowered at Yankee Stadium, including one at Monument Park in left field where another plaque honors "The Yankee Clipper."

An electronic billboard advertising Yankees games on the Major Deegan Expressway in the Bronx flashed this message: "Farewell to Joe DiMaggio Joltin' Joe -- 1914-1999."

A proposal to rename Manhattan's West Side Highway the "Joe DiMaggio Highway" was introduced in the New York Legislature last month and has picked up support in the state Senate and Assembly.

Poetry on the field

It has been 63 years since Joe DiMaggio arrived in the major leagues, a flashy young outfielder who became a marquee player almost immediately, setting American League rookie records for runs (132) and triples (15) while batting .323 with 29 home runs and 125 RBIs in 1936. He led the league with 46 home runs the next year and already was firmly established as one of the most prolific hitters of his time when he embarked on his celebrated 56-game hitting streak in May 1941.

"I can't say enough about DiMaggio," fellow Hall of Famer Ted Williams once said. "Of all the great major-leaguers I played with or against during my 19-year career, he was my idol. DiMaggio was the greatest all-around player I ever saw. He was a classic hitter. At the plate, he was poetry in motion. His fluid swing was a thing of beauty."

His career is divided into two distinct parts. He strung together seven All-Star seasons from 1936 to 1942, winning two American League Most Valuable Player awards and averaging 31 home runs and 133 RBIs before going off to war along with many of his major-league contemporaries.

"America has lost an original, a person of enormous strength and uncommon integrity," said American League President Gene Budig. "Joe DiMaggio was an exceptional player and person."

It is only a coincidence that he was at his best during a period now known as the Swing Era, but Joe DiMaggio at the plate was one of the defining images of a time when newsreels showed his sweet swing in theaters across America.

"Sometimes a fellow gets a little tired of writing about DiMaggio," legendary sports columnist Red Smith once wrote. "A fellow thinks, 'There must be some other ballplayer in the world worth mentioning.' But there isn't really, not worth mentioning in the same breath as DiMaggio."

He returned to the Yankees lineup in 1946 and helped lead the club to four world titles from 1947 to 1951, earning his third MVP trophy in 1947, but injuries and advancing age made it increasingly difficult for him to live up to his growing legend.

Joe DiMaggio retired at age 36 after a statistically disappointing 1951 season, but he still went out on top -- playing on his ninth world title team before calling an end to a Hall of Fame career.

"When baseball is no longer fun, it's no longer a game. And so I've played my last game," he said in his retirement announcement. "I just don't have it anymore."

The Streak

Though it has been 58 years since he hit safely in every game for nearly two months, the 1941 season remains the focus of his baseball legacy. The streak began on May 15 and did not end until Cleveland Indians third baseman Ken Keltner robbed him of two potential hits on July 17 -- two weeks after Joe DiMaggio had broken Wee Willie Keeler's all-time record 44 games straight.

If that wasn't impressive enough, Mr. DiMaggio hit safely in another 16 straight games immediately after the streak was broken.

Meanwhile, Boston Red Sox star Ted Williams was on his way to one of his greatest seasons, batting .406 and leading the American League in runs, home runs and several other offensive categories, but Joe DiMaggio won MVP honors for leading the Yankees to their fifth pennant in his first six major-league seasons.

"He won the MVP that year, although some people felt I should have gotten it because I hit .406 that same season," Mr. Williams wrote in his autobiography. "Well, I never felt I should have won it in 1941. DiMaggio had an incredible year and led the Yankees to the pennant. There's no doubt that his streak was one of the most amazing feats in baseball history."

Baseball over fishing

Joe DiMaggio was born Nov. 25, 1914, in Martinez, Calif., the son of an immigrant fisherman. He and brothers Vince and Dom initially disappointed their father by pursuing baseball instead of the family business, but all three reached the major leagues.

There is an apocryphal story that Joe DiMaggio chose baseball over fishing because he was prone to seasickness, but boyhood friend Dante Benedetti said that it had a lot more to do with the $25,000 signing bonus he was offered by the Yankees.

"I know you'd get seasick if somebody offered you $500 a month," Mr. Benedetti said. "After Joe signed, all the fishermen down there started to buy their kids gloves."

Joe DiMaggio would give a preview of things to come when he ran off a 61-game hitting streak for the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League, but he was considered a gamble because of a bad knee when the Yankees signed him. He earned just $7,500 his first season, but was the highest-paid player of his time, making $100,000 per year -- baseball's first six-figure contract -- during his last three major-league seasons.

The Yankees retired his No. 5 in 1952.

Mr. DiMaggio's only child was a son, Joe Jr., from his first marriage to Dorothy Arnold, an actress he met while working on a movie, "Manhattan Merry-Go-Round," in 1937. Their marriage ended in divorce.

Near the end of his career, when he was beset by nagging injuries, Mr. DiMaggio was asked whether he was tempted occasionally to relax, to coast on the field.

"Never," he said. "Somebody might be out there, watching me for the first time."

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Pub Date: 3/09/99