On this date: Joe DiMaggio makes his MLB debut

Wednesday marks the 81st anniversary of Joe DiMaggio's major league debut. He had three hits, including a triple, in a New York Yankees win over the St. Louis Browns on May 3, 1936.

Wrote the Associated Press that day: "The black-haired quiet lad who came up from the Pacific Coast heralded as the find of a decade, has been accepted into baseball's upper crust after a debut that was as impressive as his lavish advance notices."

DiMaggio was a part of baseball's "upper crust" every day of his major league career, which lasted until 1951 (with a three-year hiatus for military service). He remains a baseball icon to this day, 18 years after his death.

Here are a few nuggets you might know -- and a…