It was emphatically denied yesterday that Joe DiMaggio, one of baseball's legendary figures, was gravely ill after suffering a heart attack. Morris Engelberg, his attorney and long-time friend, said in a statement that DiMaggio was looking forward to celebrating his 84th birthday with relatives at his hospital bedside in Florida today.

"Mr DiMaggio never had a heart attack - this is totally false," Engelberg said. "Mr DiMaggio and his family heard this information on the television and were very upset."

DiMaggio was admitted to hospital on October 12th. New York television station WPIX reported on Monday that DiMaggio had undergone surgery recently for removal of a cancerous tumour on his lung.