Murray Never Forgot Night He Met DiMaggio

It was one of the favorite stories told by the late Jim Murray.

He was then the West Coast correspondent for Time magazine, and among his duties was the Hollywood beat. Which took him to dinner one night with Marilyn Monroe, the country’s ranking sex symbol.

The dinner and interview, somewhere along the Sunset Strip, went quite nicely, Murray recalled, adding that Monroe was not only beautiful and charming, but also a bit edgy that night. She frequently glanced toward the back of the restaurant, where a tall man in a raincoat had sort of mysteriously slipped in and was sitting in a dark area.

“Finally, around time for dessert,” Murray recalled, “she asked if it would be all right with me, if, after we finished eating, she would leave with somebody else.”

Murray, of course, being a newsman, had heard all the rumors about a just-beginning relationship, and so he took a chance with his response.

“That would be fine,” he told Monroe, “as long as you take me back there and introduce me to Joe DiMaggio before I leave.”

She smiled and agreed. And that’s how a man who was to become one of the greatest sportswriters ever got to meet one of the greatest baseball players ever.

Marilyn Monroe introduced them.