Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
75 years later, an icon and his feat remembered
On May 15, 1941, Joe DiMaggio got a hit that began the streak
NEW YORK — It started May 15, 1941, with a single against Eddie Smith of the White Sox at Yankee Stadium. Seventy-five years later, Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak remains baseball’s most iconic record. The Yankee Clipper’s Summer of 56 captivated a nation still recovering from the Great Depression.
As the streak mounted, following DiMaggio became something of a national distraction for Americans fearful of the World War going on in Europe.
“My mother who spoke only Italian and knew nothing of baseball knew about DiMaggio’s streak,” 88-yearold Tom Villante, a former Yankees batboy, said last week. Villante would forge a friendship with DiMaggio years later as Villante became an executive with Major League Baseball.
DiMaggio became the 1940s version of a trending topic.
“We were absolutely mesmerized by the fact that a guy could go that long,” 97-year-old former St. Louis Browns first baseman Chuck Stevens said recently from Garden Grove, California. “You stop and think about it. You walk to the plate and in all of those ballgames you didn’t go 0-for-anything. You got a hit.” MAY 15, 1941: IN THE BEGINNING Mired in a 14-for-72 slump, DiMaggio singles to left in the first inning, driving in Phil Rizzuto.
DiMaggio’s feat has endured three-quarters of a century with few challengers. Pete Rose equaled Wee Willie Keeler’s mark of a 44-game single-season streak in 1978.
“I kind of had the personality for a hitting streak,” Rose said. “It would have been great if I could have gotten to 50. I was paid to get hits and score runs and win games, and I just happened to do it 44 games in a row. But you need to be lucky. You need to miss (Clayton) Kershaw, or (Adam) Wainwright. You can’t be in a rain-shortened game. And that’s not even counting the relievers.”
After his career, DiMaggio was not known to bring up his streak or other achievements, but he was keenly aware of them. He was a man conflicted with stardom and recognition. Villante became vice president of broadcasting and marketing for MLB and coined the phrase “Baseball fever, catch it.” He recalled mentioning the streak to DiMaggio near its 30th anniversary in 1971.
“He said, ‘Yeah, I know, but no one else does,’” Villante said. “He was very much aware of it.” MAY 23, 1941: OH, BROTHER! News of the day: Joe Louis beats Buddy Baer to retain the heavyweight title.
Boston’s Dom DiMaggio did his best to stop the streak before it got rolling, twice grabbing his older brother’s bases-loaded blasts at the warning track. Joe DiMaggio eventually singled in the eighth. “My own brother robbed me,” Joe was reported as saying. “Instead of a possible eight RBI, or at least five or six, I got nothing.”
Morris Engelberg was Joe DiMaggio’s attorney from 1980 until his death at 84 in 1996. Engelberg said Joe told him that during the streak, he had been leery of Dom’s phone calls. “He always wondered,’’ Engelberg said recently from Boca Raton, Florida, “did Dom call him wondering if the streak was broken, or did he really want to keep it going?’’
Dom had a 34-game hitting streak in 1949 — principally stopped by Joe on a fly ball to center. MAY 27, 1941: WRECKING D.C. News of the day: British navy sinks German battleship Bismarck.
DiMaggio goes 4-for-5 with a home run at Washington. MAY 30, 1941: FRIENDLY FENWAY News of the day: Germans capture Crete; Floyd Davis and Mauri Rose combine to win Indy 500.
DiMaggio had no close calls over the streak’s first 15 games. In the 16th, his only hit was a fly to right that Boston’s Pete Fox lost in the sun. JUNE 2, 1941: A SAD DAY News of the day: Yankees immortal Lou Gehrig dies
DiMaggio singled and doubled off future Hall of Famer Bob Feller in a 9-7 loss at Cleveland. JUNE 17, 1941: THE BAD HOP
News of the day: German U-boat U-43 sinks British MV Cathrine, 24 crew lost
Game 30, at Yankee Stadium, produced the most controversial hit of the streak. After grounding out to White Sox shortstop Luke Appling in the second inning and lining to left in the fourth, DiMaggio again hit a grounder to short. There are conflicting reports about what transpired. Remember, no replay cameras in the 1940s. The ball either took a bad bounce over Appling’s shoulder or hit the future Hall of Famer in the arm. Official scorer Dan Daniel scored it a hit. Some thought Daniel had done a friend a favor.
Although some at that time said Daniel considered DiMaggio a friend, Villante said, “Daniel told DiMaggio: ‘You’re going to have to earn everything.’ I remember vividly Joe said, ‘That SOB (Daniel) gave me nothing.’ ” JUNE 24, 1941: BALKING AT WALKING HIM News of the day: President Franklin Roosevelt says the U.S. will provide aid to Russia, which has been taking great losses.
In Game 36 at Yankee Stadium, DiMaggio was hitless as he faced Browns reliever Bob Muncrief in the seventh inning. Browns manager Luke Sewell reportedly went to the mound and told Muncrief to intentionally walk DiMaggio. Muncrief refused.
“Dad told the story many times,” said Muncrief’s son, Bob, who lives in Cleveland. “Dad said, ‘Why?’ Sewell said, ‘I don’t want that SOB to get a hit.’ Dad said, ‘I want to pitch against DiMaggio,’ and of course DiMaggio got the base hit.”
Surviving members of Sewell’s family said the manager never discussed the incident.
JULY 2, 1941: JOE PASSES WEE WILLIE News of the day: Joe DiMaggio breaks Willie Keeler’s 44-game single-season hitting streak.
Wee Willer Keeler of the Baltimore Orioles, then in the National League, had held the record of a 44-game single-season hitting streak since 1897. DiMaggio broke it with a fifth-inning home run off Boston’s Dick Newsome at Yankee Stadium. Keeler actually is credited with a 45-game hitting streak because he had a hit in his final game in 1896. THE BEAT GOES ON DiMaggio had multiple hits in six of the next 11 games, bringing us to Game 56 at tiny League Park in Cleveland, where DiMaggio singled in the first, singled in the third, walked in the fifth, grounded out in the seventh and doubled in the ninth. JULY 17, 1941: IT’S OVER News of the day: Streak ends as Joe DiMaggio goes hitless against the Indians
DiMaggio would go hitless that night before more than 67,000 at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium, and the Clipper’s fans would cast Indians third baseman Ken Keltner as the villain.
DiMaggio’s first-inning smash down the line at third was backhanded by Keltner, who threw to first for the out. DiMaggio walked in the fourth. In the seventh, he again hit a hard grounder down the line that Keltner again backhanded and got DiMaggio by steps.
“Always played DiMaggio very deep,” Keltner told his son, Randy, who lives in Wisconsin. “‘If he wants to keep the streak going, let him bunt, but that wasn’t DiMaggio’s style.’ He said it was bang-bang plays and attributed them to his strong arm.”
Engelberg said DiMaggio told him years later he “would have beaten both balls out if it didn’t rain that afternoon,” implying the baseline was slower.
In the eighth inning, Indians manager Roger Peckinpaugh, a former Yankee, brought in Jim Bagby Jr. to relieve starter Al Smith. DiMaggio homered off Bagby in Game 28 of the streak. DiMaggio hit a grounder toward future Hall of Fame shortstop Lou Boudreau. It took a bad hop, but Boudreau grabbed it and threw to second baseman Ray Mack for the force, and Mack completed a double play by throwing DiMaggio out at first.
DiMaggio would not come to bat in the ninth, and the streak was over.
DiMaggio left the stadium with teammate Phil Rizzuto and, as the story goes, DiMaggio did not have his wallet. He borrowed $18 from the shortstop and went into a bar alone despite Rizzuto’s offer to sit with him. The inference was that he went to drown his sorrows, but DiMaggio, known as a loner, might have taken the same itinerary had the streak continued.