Is this Joe DiMaggio?

[Mr. Mitt]

Really not sure. The mouth, eyes and eyebrows sure do have his features. That said, I'm skeptical because if it were him, the experience of meeting Ruth during his teen years would have surfaced in some later interview.

[bigtrain]

I agree with Jerry. That is a rather well known photo. It appears as the endpaper of Creamer's excellent biography. I would think that if it were Joe D., that would have come up before now. That being said, there is a resemblance.

[perezfan]

He sure bears a strong resemblance, but I had to vote "not sure". If there was a discernable gap showing between his two front teeth, I would have voted "yes". But there was a vey strong Italian population in S.F. at the time, and at least hundreds of kids that age who would have loved to meet the Babe.

So there's just not enough evidence to definitively say, IMO. Guess it's one of those things that will forever remain a mystery...

[Butch7999]

We actually noticed DiMaggio (or the DiMaggio lookalike) in the photo even before we spotted the Babe, when the pic was first posted in the other thread, but we were beaten to the punch in commenting on it. The resemblance seems remarkable. Then again, a face can change a lot from age 12 or 14 to adulthood. Aren't there any available photos of the Clipper from his boyhood that might allow a better comparison?

[Ladder7]

... and the guy behind Joey is John Merrick

[Forever Young]

I went through my photos and think I found him all grows up trying to meet Babe's buddy Lou in 1939. What are the chances of three guys looking like....well....J.Dimaggio?

[JasonL]

I went with No, simply because I thought Joe D was a lot leaner as a youngster...I could certainly be way off, but my recollection of earlier photos have him with a slimmer face...angles are everything though...fascinating discovery. It's entirely possible, and odd that this doesn't happen more often in photos from earlier times. Because as well know, back then there just weren't all that many people!