Joe DiMaggio's Unbreakable Hit Streak: The Legendary 56-Game Run

On July sixteenth, nineteen forty one, Joe DiMaggio extends his record hitting streak to fifty six games in a row and the following day, But little did he know the following day would be the first time in almost three months that he would not get a hit in a game. Here's the story behind this iconic record and moment in baseball and why it's a record that will probably never ever be beaten. Today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide to a rapid deep dive in sports history every day. And today's trivia question to listen out for is how many games is Joe DiMaggio's longest hit streak? And here's a hint, it's not fifty six games. Listen to the entire episode to try to figure out the answer. So, before we get into this amazing his streak, let's give a brief overview of who Joe DiMaggio was, because there was a time where he was the biggest athlete in America, even possibly bigger than Babe Ruth at his time, as he transcended baseball. Now. He was born in nineteen fourteen as Joseppe Demaggio, and he shortened it to Joe as it was one shorter and to kind of fit in the American style, as there was a very Italian name. He was one of nine kids from Italian immigrants, and he wasn't the only baseball player in the family. He had two other brothers that played professional baseball. But Joe didn't do very well in school and he actually dropped out to work some odd jobs to help the family, and eventually in nineteen thirty one, he started playing semi pro baseball and his brother Vince was playing for the San Francisco Seals, part of the Pacific Coast League, which was a minor league team for the Majors at the time, and his brother Vince convinced the general manager to allow Joe to fill in at shortstop and he made his professional debut on October first, nineteen thirty two. But the next year is when he would really put his name out there for Major League Baseball to take notice, as in his first full rookie year, he went on the second longest hit streak in minor league baseball history, hitting in sixty one starting in May going all the way to July. Just eight game shy of the record set by Joe Willhoy in nineteen nineteen, which those are still the top two hitting streaks in all of Minor league and Major League baseball. So this really caught the attention of Major League Baseball. That hits streak jumped him up to get noticed. But sadly, in nineteen thirty four, he suffered a knee injury where he tore a ligament in his knee, but he was able to rehab and in the nineteen thirty five season he was able to hit with a three to ninety eight batting average, have one hundred and fifty four RBIs and thirty four home runs, leading the Seals to a Pacific League title in the being named the league's most valuable player, and at that point Major League Baseball could not stand by. They needed to get him up to the majors and that's when the New York Yankees signed him for a contract worth eight thousand, five hundred dollars in nineteen thirty six, and he came out on fire. He actually got to bat ahead of Luke Garrick in the batting lineup instead, a franchise record for rookies, hitting twenty nine home runs, which was a record for the Yankees that stood until Eric Judge broke it in twenty seventeen, and he would continue his success the following year, hitting forty six home runs with a batting average of three forty six. So he wasn't only hitting for power, he was also hitting to get on base, and he showed off his skills of getting hits routinely and would go on to get the nickname Yankee Clippers by the Yankees play by play announcer Arch Donald, who likened his speed and range in the outfield as a pan Am airline and in nineteen thirty nine, he would go on to win his first Batting title with batting average of three to eighty one. It would win his first career MVP, leading the Yankees to their fourth consecutive World Series. He was on top of the sports world, and that's when he did something that took him even higher than he already was. See prior to nineteen forty one, the record for the longest hit streak was held by Willie Keller, who hit forty four straight in the National League in eighteen ninety seven. So it had almost been fifty years and it all started in nineteen forty one. On May fifteenth, in the first inning of the Chicago White Sox, Joe hit a single and got an RBI, scoring the only run that they would score in that game, losing as the Yankees lost that game thirteen to one, and he continued his success game after game. As previously, him getting multiple hits in multiple and consecutive games was not unusual. He had a great batting average, and he had done small streaks here and there, but once his streak reached thirteen games, it started to get attention by the New York City press, but Joe just kind of shrugged it off as it was something he'd done before. As you remember, in the minor leagues, he had a sixty one game hit streak, so this was nothing unusual for him, and on June sixteenth, Joe matched the franchise record for the Yankees, extending his streak to twenty nine games. But that didn't mean he didn't have close calls. In the thirtieth game of the hit streak, he didn't get a hit till the seventh inning, which was one he legged out to get a single, hitting it to the shortstop just barely beating out the throw. Making his only hit of the game, and by this time everyone was tracking each time he came up to the play. Was he going to continue his record as previously he had said he doesn't think of a whole lot about it, But after his thirty eighth game, he publicly expressed his desire to top the Hit Street record, and it even got so that pitchers were trying actively to end the streak. As they faced the Athletics, he faced Johnny Babache, who had actually faced Demagio during his sixty one game hit streak in the Pacific League, and he said he was not going to give him a pitch he could hit, breaking his streak, and each time he pitched wild balls that were impossible to hit, basically intentionally walking him. But in the third inning, after throwing three unhittable pitches, his fourth pitch was well outside the strike zone but reachable, and Demaggio lunged for it and guided the ball between Babbage's legs and ended up being a double. And this was, in Joe Demaggio's words, the most satisfying hit of the whole streak. Now, the modern record at the time for a hit streak was done by George Slicer, who hit forty one game streak in nineteen twenty two, and though the press made huge announcements, on July fifth, when he actually passed Slicser getting his forty second hit, and he did this after his bat he had been using was stolen, Aldi dugout and he had to use a teammate's bat and was able to get a single to break the modern record, but everyone wanted to see if Joe could break the overall record. On July second, facing off against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium, in his third at bat, he came up and hit a home run right over Ted Williams head, giving him the longest history at forty five. But as we all know, he didn't stop. He continued to go and go, and the question was how long would it go? And even through the All Star break, he continued after that first, making it to fifty and excitement kept going and going, and no one knew when it was going to end. Every picture was giving them his best outing as they wanted to be the picture that ended the streak. And on July seventeenth, the Yankees were facing off against the Indians in Cleveland and starting pitcher Al Smith was giving him the best stuff he could get to try to get DiMaggio out, making him hit ground balls and even giving him a walk, and towards the end of the game, Jim Bagbee came in and got him to ground out to shortstop to get him to hit into a double play, and then going into the ninth inning, the Yankees were winning four to three and with runners on basis. Some argued they wanted the Yankees to intentionally give up a run to have the game go into extra so Joe could get another shot, but they didn't, and his streak ended at fifty six games, and Joe was devastated as he was going to get a huge deal from Hinz fifty seven if his streak actually ended at fifty seven instead of fifty six, But he also knew it had to come to an end, and he ended up during his streak having ninety one base hits in two hundred and twenty three at bats with a batting average four hundred and eight. He had fifty five runs batted in and included fifteen home runs, and he also scored fifty six times. And what's crazier is he didn't stop even after this game. He went on a fifteen game hit streak after so in a span up seventy three games, he was able to reach seventy two times. In that year, he would become the Al MVP again for the second time, and wouldn't even win the batting title that year, as Ted Williams would hit over four hundred and Joe would finish with the batting average of three fifty seven. Now, Joe would continue his career, although in nineteen forty three he would take three years off to join the military and would come back in nineteen forty six with the Yankees, where he played his entire career and would shoot into superstardom fame as he married actress Dorothy Arnold, who he later got divorced in nineteen thirty nine and go on to marry Marilyn Monroe nineteen fifty four, which they would later get divorced later on that same year, but they continued to stay friends throughout their lives, and Joe later on went to become the spokesman for Mister Coffee after he retired in nineteen fifty one due to injuries, which he remained the face of Mister Coffee for over twenty years and since then. The closest anyone has ever gotten to breaking this record was in nineteen seventy eight when Pete Rose was able to get to forty four games, but no one else since has gotten over forty and analys say this is one of those unbreakable records as the game has changed so much. As the game has become so specialized, with different relief pitchers and closers and players taking time off for injury risk, no one believes this record will ever be beaten in baseball history, and although Joe passed away in nineteen ninety nine, his number has been retired by the Yankees and a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame when he was inducted in nineteen fifty five in part of the Major League Baseball All Century Team. Fintanishing in his career with a batting average of three hundred and twenty five, with over two thousand hits, over three hundred home runs, and over fifteen hundred runs batted in. One of the greatest players of his era, the likes of which we may never see again. And I want to thank you for listening to this great streak we've learned all about today, and if you like this. Please hit that little shit, share a button, share it with a friend, shoot them a tax or DM, or send them something so they can get in on all the sports history that we're learning today and in the future. And come back tomorrow for more daily sports history. And did you catch the answer to today's trivia question what was Joe DiMaggio's longest hit streak And the answer was sixty one when he was in the Pacific Minor leagues, years before he had his famous fifty six game streak.