Game 46: July 5, 1941 After setting the all-time record for the most consecutive games with a hit, Joe DiMaggio and the Yankees got a schedule break. July 3, 1941, was an off day. When it rained on July 4, DiMaggio got an extra day to bask in the adulation of an America completely embracing […]

Games 47 and 48: July 6, 1941 More than a month before, the Yankees had been given the sobering news of the death of Lou Gehrig. At first, the team was stunned and slid into emotional quicksand. Those first few days, knowing the old captain was gone, hurt terribly. It took the Yankees a while […]

Game 49: July 10, 1941 The All-Star Game break gave most Major Leaguers three days of much-needed rest. For Joe DiMaggio—the American League starting center fielder—the spotlight intensified. While the July 8, 1941, Mid-Summer Classic wouldn’t count in the regular-season record books, DiMaggio nonetheless fretted: “What if I don’t get a hit? What will people […]

Game 50: July 11, 1941 The hottest “ticket” in baseball was Joe DiMaggio—in every major league city except St. Louis. Even the white-hot DiMaggio, with his 49-game hitting streak and American League-leading 20 homers and 73 RBI, did nothing to bring the fans out on July 11, 1941. A forecast of rain, an afternoon game […]

Game 51: July 12, 1941 Dom DiMaggio used to tell the stories of how he sometimes felt like he didn’t exist during his brother Joe’s immortal hitting streak. Most of his interviews were with media members who wanted to know what it was like growing up as Joe DiMaggio’s brother. What tips did Joe give […]

Games 52 and 53: July 13, 1941 With 50,387 fans watching, Joe DiMaggio made hitting look easy in the first game of a July 13, 1941 doubleheader with the White Sox. It was the biggest crowd in six years at Comiskey Park. Team owner Charles Comiskey was known as tight with his money. Many believe […]

Game 54: July 14, 1941 It was July 14, 1941. Thanks to the brilliant pitching of White Sox right-hander Johnny Rigney, the streak was over. No, not The Streak. The Yankees’ winning string was ended at 14 as Chicago thumped New York, 7-1. Joe DiMaggio’s infield single in the sixth ran the real streak to […]

Game 55: July 15, 1941 Actress Greta Garbo made only 27 motion pictures. The Swedish siren, like so many other movie stars—and like Joe DiMaggio in the summer of 1941—was hounded by the public, disturbed by the paparazzi wherever she went. In Grand Hotel in the 1930s, the great actress predicted her future when she […]

Game 56: July 16, 1941 Cruising into Cleveland, the New York Yankees understood the importance of this three-game series. The Indians were five games back, but a good showing by the second-place club could make it a pennant race again. With the streak at 55 straight, Bob Feller loomed in the set’s finale. But first, […]

Say it’s not so, Joe: The Streak dies in Ken Keltner’s glove. Day No. 57: July 17, 1941. As of July 17, 1941—70 years ago to the day—two months had passed since the great Joe DiMaggio had gone without a hit. So commonplace had Joltin’ Joe’s consecutive-game streak become that some fans were no longer […]