Yankees Great Joe DiMaggio Caught In Own Weinergate

An all-nude full-frontal nude photo of New York Yankees legend Joe DiMaggio is currently up for bidding at a Long Island auction house and DiMaggio's long-time lawyer isn't happy about it.  But Anthony Weiner would be proud.

The black and white photo shows DiMaggio lathering it up alongside another player inside the showers inside Yankee Stadium circa 1939.

Lelands.com, a company which specializes in sports memorabilia and photography, is calling the photograph the "Joe DiMaggio Boudoir Photo" even the there isn't a bedroom in sight.  The bidding is scheduled to begin on June 24 at $1,331.

DiMaggio's long-time lawyer and friend, Morris Engelberg, is disputing the veracity of the snapshot and claims the notoriously private Yankee Clipper would never allow himself to be photographed in such a situation.

"I could never imagine Joe DiMaggio, this private individual, ever letting anyone take a photo of him in the nude with someone next to him," claims the lawyer for DiMaggio's estate.

Engelberg who was DiMaggio's confidant for over 60 years, said, "When Joe DiMaggio went to the bathroom in a restaurant, I always had to escort him.  I made sure no one took a picture of him at the urinal."  Sounds like a fun gig.



This isn't the first time the nude photo of DiMaggio popped up.  Two years ago the nation turned their lonely eyes to  the photo of Mister Coffee hanging in an exhibition called the Hunted and Gathered at the gallery Modernism in San Francisco.  No one knows where the photo originally came from.

When asked where he got the photo,  then bluntly titled the "Joe DiMaggio Shown in All His Glory in Showers of Yankee Stadium," San Francisco curator Robert Flynn Johnson joked, "I have friends in low places."

The photo appears to have been taken a couple of years before the young slugger had his famous 56-game hitting streak.  Lelands CEO, Josh Evans, told the New York Daily News that he doesn't know how the photo made it to this point but it is "100% authentic, first generation and vintage."

Evans said he reluctantly acquired the naked image from an anonymous seller six months ago and insists there is no mystery to the photograph's origins.  Evans said he would provide a certificate of authenticity if the buyer requests one, but would not include the seller's name.

DiMaggio died in 1999 at the age of 84.

If he played right now, it would be easy to identify the modern-day DiMaggio because his body would be covered with a gallery of tattoos to go with his untrimmed nether regions.

Maybe not, we're talking about conservative Joe D here.