5/25/2022-Baseball legend and American icon, Joseph Paul DiMaggio, was born in Martinez, California on November 25, 1914. This hometown heros career with the New York Yankees spanned 13 seasons, 13 All-Star games and 10 World Series. He was a three-time American League MVP and in 1953 was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He still holds the hitting streak record of 56 consecutive games in 1941. The Joe DiMaggio Hometown Hero Project was launched on November 18, 2014 at a centennial celebration of Joes birthday in Martinez. The project aims to preserve Joes legacy and heighten national recognition of a hometown hero.

On October 1,1949 the City of New York and the Yankees celebrated "Joe DiMaggio Day" paying tribute to one of the finest players ever to play the game of baseball. Among the gifts Joe DiMaggio received that day was a 22-foot Chris Craft pleasure boat from New York Yankee fans, later named the Joltin Joe.

The prestige surrounding the Joltin Joe was elevated when Joe took his new bride, Marilyn Monroe, for a cruise on the San Francisco Bay in 1954 during their wedding reception. DiMaggio had loaned the boat to numerous relatives in subsequent decades and the boat had fallen into a state of disrepair by the time it was donated to Joes birthplace, the City of Martinez, in 1991. The boat had deteriorated further after spending many years on display at the Martinez marina when, in 2010, the Sons of Italy, Diablo Valley Lodge #2167, took on the fundraising for a full restoration project. The Carpenters Union 152 joined the project and offered free labor to support the effort. Countless hours of work (one day each week for 5.5 years) by volunteers have restored the Joltin Joe to museum-quality. It has since won several awards from Wooden Boat shows.