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DiMaggio, Joe, was the eighth of nine children born to Sicilian immigrants, delivered by a midwife identified on his birth certificate an Mrs. J. Pico. His mother, Rosalia, named him "Giuseppe" for his father; "Paolo" was in honor of Saint Paul, Giuseppe's favorite saint. The family moved to San Francisco when Joe was one year old.
Giuseppe was a fisherman, as were generations of DiMaggios before him, and wanted his five sons to do the same. Joe would do anything to get out of cleaning his father's boat, as the smell of dead fish made him sick to his stomach. This earned him Giuseppe's ire, who called him "lazy" and "good for nothing." It was only after Joe became the sensation of the Pacific Coast League that the old man was finally won over.
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