One of the greatest baseball players of all-time was Joe DiMaggio, the next lyric in Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire. The Yankee Clipper played centerfield for the New York Yankees for 13 years. DiMaggio won the World Series 9 times with the Yankees from 1936-1951. He was a 13-time All-Star, won the AL MVP 3 times, won 2 batting titles, 2 homerun titles, and biggest of all holds the Major League record for longest hitting streak at 56 games. His no. 5 is retired by the Yankees.

Marriage to Monroe

Many non baseball fans might also know DiMaggio as the former husband of one Marilyn Monroe. They married in September 1954, but the marriage only lasted 9 months before the two split. Years later they would reunited after Monroe’s marriage with Arthur Miller ended, but they only remained friends. A little over a year later, she was dead. DiMaggio helped arange her funeral. For 20 years he had a half dozen red roses delivered to her grave 3 times a week.

World War II

DiMaggio missed 3 years of MLB play during the height of his career due to World War II, 1943-1945. He spent those 3 years rising to the rank of Staff Sergeant, but really just played baseball. Joe spent the war as a physical education instructor stationed in California, Hawaii, and New Jersey spending most of his time playing ball for the base teams. He even gained 10 pounds. Embarrassed he requested a combat assignment only to be turned down.

After his playing days were over, he was Vice President and a coach for the Oakland A’s in 1968-1969. Priot to the stint in Oakland he was a spring training hitting and outfield coach for the Yankees from 1961-1967.

In 1998, DiMaggio was admitted to the hospital in Hollywood, Florida where he would stay for 99 days. He was a smoker as an adult and had surgery for lung cancer while in the hospital. A few months after returning home in early 1999, Joe passed away at the age of 84. Interred at Holy Cross Memorial Cemetery in Colma, California, his hitting streak record of 56 games is thought to be one of the most unbreakable records in baseball. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1955.

Check out the rest of the lyrics and the stories behind them here.