July 17, 1941: The New York Yankees play the Cleveland Indians in front of 67,468 fans at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The Yankees' center fielder, Joe DiMaggio, comes into the game with a 56-game hitting streak. Before this, the longest streak ever was 44 games. Since this, the longest streak has also been 44 games. This record has never even been seriously approached.
What's more, with the streak, DiMaggio put the Yankees on his back, and carried them to glory. On Game 3 of the streak, on May 17, the Yankees were 7 1/2 games out of 1st place in the American League. Now, in Game 57, exactly 2 months later, they are in 1st place by 7 games, a 14 1/2-game swing.
Don't tell me Ted Williams was the most valuable player, capitalized or otherwise, in the AL that season. His .406 batting average didn't help his team come anywhere near a Pennant. The latest in the season that the Boston Red Sox were in 1st place was April 22. After June 25, they were never within 3 games of 1st place. From July 13 onward, they were never within 10. From August 9 onward, they were never within 14. On September 4, they bottomed out at 20 1/2 back. And when the regular season ended on September 28, they were 84-70, not a bad record, but and in 2nd place, not a bad finish -- but 17 games behind the Yankees.
Williams batted .406, with an on-base percentage of .553, a slugging percentage of .735, a 235 OPS+, and hit 37 home runs, all of which led both major leagues. He had 120 RBIs. In comparison, DiMaggio's "slash line" for the season was .357/.440/.643, his OPS+ was 185, and he hit 30 homers, but led both Leagues with 125 RBIs.
But the Yankees went 41-13, with a game tied when called due to darkness and another tied when called due to rain, over those 56 games, including winning streaks of 14 and 8. Of those 56, 4 went to extra innings, but DiMaggio got his 1st hit within the 1st 9 each time; and 4 were shortened due to rain, making it even more impressive that DiMaggio got at least 1 hit in each.
Shortly after the streak ended, the Yankees started a 10-game winning streak. They went on to clinch the Pennant on September 3. It remains the earlier 1st-place clinching in AL history, even in the Divisional Play era.
But on this day, DiMaggio was stopped. In the top of the 1st inning, batting against pitcher Al Smith, Red Rolfe singled, and Tommy Henrich doubled, to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. DiMaggio then came up, and hit a sharp grounder to 3rd base, where Ken Keltner made a great play to throw him out. In the 4th, DiMaggio drew a walk against Smith, but that didn't count as a hit.
In the bottom of the 4th, Gerald "Gee" Walker hit a home run off Yankee pitcher Lefty Gomez, to tie the game. The game remained tied until the top of the 7th. With Smith still pitching for Cleveland, DiMaggio came up, but was again robbed by a great play by Keltner. Right after this, Joe Gordon hit a home run, giving the Yankees a 2-1 lead.
Charlie Keller led off the top of the 8th with a triple. Rookie shortstop Phil Rizzuto grounded to 3rd, and Keltner held Keller, then, threw Rizzuto out. But Gomez, a notoriously bad hitter even for a pitcher, singled Keller home. It was 1 of only 58 RBIs in a 14-season career that would see Gomez go 189-102 and make the Baseball Hall of Fame.
This was followed by Johnny Sturm singling, and Rolfe doubling him home. Henrich walked, and with DiMaggio due up next, that was enough for Roger Peckinpaugh, the former Yankee and Washington Senator shortstop, who had also managed both of those teams, and was now managing the Indians: He replaced Smith with Jim Bagby Jr., whose father had pitched for the Indians' World Series winners of 1920.
Still needing a hit, DiMaggio hit a grounder to short. Boudreau got it, and threw to Ray Mack (no relation to Connie) at 2nd to eliminate Henrich. Mack threw to Oscar Grimes at 1st, to eliminate DiMaggio, who wouldn't have been credited with a hit even if he'd beaten it out, as it would have been officially called a fielder's choice.
The Yankees did not score in the 9th, and there was no chance of DiMaggio coming up again. Even if there had been a 10th inning, he would have been the 4th man up. The Indians did threaten, scoring 2 runs. Yankee manager Joe McCarthy took Gomez out, and replaced him with Johnny Murphy, who slammed the door.
Yankees 4, Indians 3. The win was secure. But all the talk was of how the streak was over. The Yankee Clipper, for once, was at anchor.
*
July 17, 1941 was a Thursday. It was the off-season for the NFL and the NHL, and the NBA hadn't been founded yet. But there were 5 other Major League Baseball games played that day:
* The New York Giants lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 5-4 at the Polo Grounds.
* The Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Phillies were tied 2-2 after 6 innings, when the game was called due to rain.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Washington Senators, 7-1 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. (It was renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961.)
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-4 at Comiskey Park, in Chicago. Ted Williams did not play.
* The St. Louis Browns beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 4-3 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.
* And the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Boston Braves, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the St. Lois Cardinals were not scheduled.
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