July 2, 1941: Hot Streaks: Joe DiMaggio, the Yankees, and the weather

Beginning with a base hit on May 15, 1941, Joe DiMaggio just kept hitting, game after game. Nobody noticed it much at first, but like a boulder that starts out slowly and picks up speed rolling down a hill, the story eventually took hold and the streak captivated a country during the summer of 1941.

On June 17 DiMaggio set a Yankees record by hitting in his 30th game in a row.1 The 41-game hit streak set by George Sisler in 1922 was generally considered the modern-day standard.

The Yankees outfielder cast the illusion of indifference until acknowledging in an interview after the June 26, 1941 game against the St. Louis Browns when he extended the streak to 38 games, “As long as I’ve gone this far, I might as well try to keep it rolling. At the start I didn’t think much about it … but naturally I’d like to get the record since I’m this close.”2

From sea to shining sea; from Toots Shor’s Restaurant in Manhattan to DiMaggio’s Grotto Restaurant at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, and all the way in between, the pursuit of the hitting streak became a national phenomenon and was a common conversation starter on the streets. People avidly tuned on their radios, looking for updates as regularly scheduled broadcasts were interrupted on game days when news of another Joe DiMaggio hit came through.

Through June 28 he had hit in 40 games in a row, with a doubleheader on tap in Washington the next day. A double in the first game one broke Ty Cobb’s mark of 40 games. A single in the nightcap broke Sisler’s 41-game mark.3

While such things were not tracked with modern-day scrutiny at the time, it had come to light that Willie Keeler hit in 44 consecutive games in the 1890s.4

Having set a new modern record with 42, DiMaggio said, “I’m glad the strain is over. Now I’m going after that forty-four-game mark and I’ll keep on swinging and hitting as long as I can.”5

In a July 1 doubleheader against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium, he got two hits in the first game and, even though the second game was called after five innings, he had another hit, tying Keeler’s record. 

On Wednesday, July 2, braving 98-degree temperatures, Boston and New York played again.6

The heat was so intense that the scheduled Red Sox starter, the 41-year-old Lefty Grove, was a scratch, passing the baton to 31-year-old rookie right-handed knuckleballer Dick Newsome, who was given the task of facing the streaking DiMaggio.7 

Lefty Gomez, DiMaggio’s best friend on the team and his roommate on the road, was the Yankees’ starting pitcher when the home team took the field. Joe’s younger brother, Dominic DiMaggio, led off the game with a fly ball to left field. Gomez struck out Lou Finney for the second out. Ted Williams singled to right field, and Joe Cronin drew a walk, but Stan Spence flied out to DiMaggio in center field to end the inning.  

DiMaggio was the cleanup hitter in the Yankees lineup and was afforded a first-inning at-bat when the number-two hitter, Red Rolfe, drew a walk. DiMaggio ended the inning as he lined out to right fielder Spence.

After Gomez set the Red Sox down without a run in the top of the second inning, Charlie Keller led off the bottom of the second inning with a home run to right field to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. Newsome gave up a two-out double to Phil Rizzuto but got three groundouts to escape the inning without further damage.

The Red Sox failed to score again in the top half of the third inning. In the home half, back-to-back singles by Rolfe and Tommy Henrich with one out put runners on the corners and brought DiMaggio to the plate for his second swing at history. John Drebinger of the New York Times described what happened next: “A snappy pick-up and throw by third-baseman Jim Tabor on a difficult bounding ball checked DiMaggio again. …”8 The stroke, though, was enough to drive in Rolfe from third base to give DiMaggio an RBI and the Yankees a 2-0 lead.

Nine consecutive outs followed, six by groundouts signaling perhaps that the heat was beginning to fatigue both teams. (Gomez had changed his sweat-soaked flannel jersey after the third inning.9)

In the Yankees fifth, first baseman Johnny Sturm, in his only major-league season, led off with a walk and stole second base. Rolfe doubled to right to drive in Sturm. Henrich lined out to Finney at first base, and that brought DiMaggio to the plate for his third at-bat.                                           

Newsome, the visiting pitcher, could do no right. The fans booed at ball one and ball two, which were wide of the plate. Then, according to Associated Press writer Judson Bailey, DiMaggio “clouted a high foul into the third tier of Yankee Stadium and finally blasted a mighty fly into the lower stands in left field.”10 Red Sox left fielder Williams simply turned and looked as the blast went over his head.11

The blow sent Newsome to the showers, relieved by right-hander Jack Wilson to put out the fire. He didn’t, and the Red Sox defense didn’t help much either, as the first batter he faced, Keller, reached first base on an error by Red Sox player-manager Joe Cronin. Bill Dickey walked, and Joe Gordon reached on a fielder’s choice to load the bases. After Phil Rizzuto popped out to the catcher, Gomez helped his own cause with a single up the middle, scoring Keller and Dickey and moving Gordon to third base. Gordon then scored the sixth run of the inning on a passed ball by catcher Frankie Pytlak. Wilson struck out Sturm, and the inning ended with the Yankees ahead 8-0.

The Red Sox grabbed three runs back in the top of the sixth, and Gomez, perhaps fatigued by the heat and maybe even the energy expended running the bases with his RBI single, left the contest when four of the first five batters reached base in the inning. Yankees manager Joe McCarthy summoned Johnny Murphy, the team’s 1941 bullpen ace, to secure the victory. He did, with a 3⅔-inning, one-hit relief job. The Yankees won 8-4.

Many fans filtered out of the Stadium early to escape the heat before the victory was confirmed, having seen what they came for, DiMaggio’s record-setting hit. Several stayed the distance and swarmed the field to celebrate when the game ended.12

Press photos from the time document DiMaggio on the field after the game amid a montage of baseball bats arranged to portray the number 45. Another showed DiMaggio celebrating with teammates in the locker room. Yet another portrayed his starlet wife, Dorothy, standing and cheering vigorously in the stands amid a throng of spectators after his home run in the fifth inning.  

DiMaggio went on to hit in 11 more games through July 16 to make the number 56 an icon in baseball annals.13 The Yankees went on to win the American League pennant with 101 victories and beat their rival Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series, four games to one.

Photo credit

National Baseball Hall of Fame Library.

Sources

For game play-by-play details and box score information, the author referenced:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA194107020.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1941/B07020NYA1941.htm

The author revisited the following books that covered the streak and in particular this game:

Auker, Elden, with Tom Keegan. Sleeper Cars and Flannel Uniforms: A Lifetime of Memories from Striking Out the Babe to Teeing It Up with the President (Chicago: Triumph Books 2001).

Kennedy, Kostya. 56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports (New York: Sports Illustrated Books Time Home Entertainment, 2011).

Vaccaro, Mike. 1941 – The Greatest Year In Sports: Two Baseball Legends, Two Boxing Champs, and the Unstoppable Thoroughbred Who Made History in the Shadow of War (New York: Doubleday 2007).

These videos provided further background on the 56-game hitting streak and contained footage of this game:

MLB Network. 56: The Streak  (2016).

HBO Sports. Where Have You Gone Joe DiMaggio? (1998).

PBS Special. Joe DiMaggio – The Hero’s Life (2000).

Notes

1 Roger Peckinpaugh had hit in 29 consecutive games in 1919, and Earle Combs tied that in 1931.

2 Associated Press, “DiMaggio Taking Interest in Hit Streak. Finally Decides He’d Like to Break Sisler’s Streak,” Meriden Record (Meriden, Connecticut), June 27, 1941: 12.

3 Dan Daniel, “19-Year-Old Record of Sisler Falls Before Relentless Drive of Yankees’ Great Outfielder,” The Sporting News, July 3, 1941: 18. Someone even pilfered DiMaggio’s bat between games, but that didn’t hinder his setting the record.

4 Keeler’s streak was described by sportswriter Bob Considine as “an ancient and slightly questionable mark set in 1897.” “Italian Star Runs Streak to 44 games: New York Defeats Bosox, 7-2,” Washington Post, July 2, 1941: 2.

5 James Dawson, “Yankees Conquer Senators, 9-4, 7-5: DiMaggio Getting Hit in Each Game,” New York Times, June 30, 1941: 20. The strain was not over for Dan Daniel, the official scorer for the game, who wrote, “This streak is of his is wearing me down. It’s tougher on me than it is on DiMaggio.” Dan Daniel. “Trials of an Official Scorer,” The Sporting News, July 17, 1941: 4.

6 The Yankees as a team were on fire, too, in the middle of a 14-game winning streak and having just set a team home-run streak of 25 straight games that was ended in the June 29 doubleheader in Washington.

7 He won 19 games in 1941, seven more wins than anyone else on the second-place Red Sox. He was the league’s best rookie pitcher.” Bill Nowlin, “Dick Newsome,” SABR BioProject.

8 John Drebinger, “DiMaggio Sets Hitting Record as Yankees Win; Dodgers Triumph/Home Run in Fifth Tops Keeler Mark,” New York Times, July 3, 1941: 22.

9 “Joe DiMaggio’s Streak, Game 45: DiMaggio Stands Alone in Baseball history,” joedimaggio.com;  https://bleacherreport.com/articles/757234-joe-dimaggios-streak-game-45-dimaggio-stands-alone-in-baseball-history, BleacherReport.com, July 4, 2011. 

10 Judson Bailey (Associated Press), “DiMaggio’s Home Run Tops Keeler. Yankee Outfielder Continues Sensational Hitting Streak,” Ottawa Evening Citizen, July 3, 1941: 14.

11 The celebration at home plate was chronicled by an Associated Press photo and included DiMaggio; Rolfe, the runner he drove in; Frankie Pytlak, the Red Sox catcher; and the Yankees batboy. Tim Sullivan, “DiMaggio Hits in 45th Straight Game; Sets Record,” Chicago Tribune, July 3, 1941: 19.      

12 Drebinger. One bold fan even clipped the Yankee Clipper’s cap as he ran in from center field but was thwarted in his escape by “the Stadium’s vigilant secondary defense of special guards.”

13 During the streak DiMaggio batted .408, hit 15 home runs, and drove in 55 runs. “Perhaps even more unbelievably, he struck out a mere five times over that stretch.” MLB.com, https://www.mlb.com/news/joe-dimaggio-56-game-hitting-streak.