The late Yankee slugger Joe DiMaggio was once stalked by Tom Cruise.

"He'd show up at baseball-signing shows and wait for Joe to come out," says the source.

"One time, he waited outside a restaurant for him for three hours. [DiMaggio] called him 'a short little guy.' He didn't like it. He felt like he was stalking him."

Cruise's spokesman didn't respond by deadline. And in fairness to Cruise, who J.J. Abrams said would come to his house alone on his motorcycle at midnight to convince him to direct "Mission: Impossible III," the actor could have been pursuing DiMaggio to try getting the rights to his story. But Joltin' Joe, who died in 1999 at 84, felt there was madness in his method.

"Joe said to me, 'This guy is following me around everywhere I go,'" says our spy. "'Next time, I'm going to call the cops.'"

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