DiMaggio had 'defective attitude' toward military in World War II

Yankees legend Joe DiMaggio held a “defective attitude” toward military service during his World War II service, U.S. Army documents recently published.

According to Army medical reports, DiMaggio exhibited a “conscious attitude of hostility and resistance” toward his duties. DiMaggio served for 2-1/2 years as a physical instructor in the Army’s Special Services division, though he never saw combat nor was deployed overseas.

The two reports were written shortly before DiMaggio’s discharge in September 1945 by officers in the Army’s Medical Corps. In the reports, doctors say DiMaggio complained of persistent abdominal pain he believed was an ulcer and led to repeated hospitalizations.

But Major Emile G. Stoloff wrote that “no evidence” of an ulcer could be found. Major William G. Barrett contended that DiMaggio was hoping his medical complaints would “lead to release from his present unhappy situation” in the military.

During the interviews, DiMaggio complained that the Army was using his status as a baseball star for public relations. Barrett said DiMaggio felt “exploited” by having to play in Army baseball games. The records note that DiMaggio “resisted all such attempts ”by Stoloff to investigate why DiMaggio exhibited an “aversion to the use of his special skill.”

At the time, DiMaggio was 30 and had recently divorced his wife, who had custody of his young son. The doctors described DiMaggio as being more interested in his personal problems than in his “obligations to adjust to the demands of the service.” Stoloff concluded DiMaggio could still be of use to the Army under certain conditions, including that he not be required to play baseball, sign autographs, or do interviews.

DiMaggio returned to the Yankees in 1946, winning the American League MVP one year later and leading the Yankees to a World Series title.

(edited from New York Post uncredited article)