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What: “SportsCentury: Athlete No. 22, Joe DiMaggio”

Where: ESPN, Friday, 7:30-8 p.m.

Joe DiMaggio’s life story was recounted at length in newspapers and on television across the country after his death March 8. Now ESPN takes another look at DiMaggio, who has been named the 22nd-greatest North American athlete of the 20th century, and it’s another outstanding show in ESPN’s “SportsCentury” series.

Journalists and experts who make up the 48-person panel that voted on ESPN’s top 100--the top 50 are being profiled--were asked to vote on athletic ability alone. But with DiMaggio, there was so much more than his 56-game hitting streak in 1941 and his nine World Series championships as a center fielder for the New York Yankees.

He was married to Marilyn Monroe. He was immortalized in a song by Simon and Garfunkel and in TV commercials as Mr. Coffee.

ESPN paints an honest look at a complex, private man.

ESPN has relied heavily on writers for comments about the athletes, and that again is the case here. Some might say writers are used too much, but they tell the best stories and offer the most honest opinions.

Author Gay Talese tells the story about Monroe going to Korea to entertain U.S. troops while on her honeymoon with DiMaggio, then returning and saying, “You’ve never heard such cheering.” Talese tells us DiMaggio’s response was: “Yes, I have.”

At the end of the show, host Dan Patrick notes that DiMaggio’s only son, Joe Jr., 57, died recently. Patrick says DiMaggio was such a private person that even his son didn’t know the roots of his desire for privacy.

DiMaggio may have shunned the spotlight, but it’s square on this American icon once again. Sure, we’ve all seen a lot about him this year, but ESPN makes it worth taking another look.