Joe DiMaggio Begins His 56-Game Hitting Streak

On May 15, 1941, Joe DiMaggio singled off Chicago White Sox left-hander Edgar Smith in the first inning at Yankee Stadium, scoring Phil Rizzuto. It was an ordinary hit in an otherwise unremarkable game that the Yankees lost 13-1. Nobody in the press box circled the date. But the single was the first hit in what would become a 56-game hitting streak, the most enduring individual record in American professional sports.

DiMaggio collected at least one hit in every game from May 15 through July 16, a span of two months during which the country was watching the war in Europe intensify and a ballplayer in the Bronx refused to go hitless. The streak became a national event. Newspapers tracked it daily. A popular song, "Joltin' Joe DiMaggio" by Les Brown and His Band of Renown, played on radios across the country.

During the 56 games, DiMaggio batted .408 with 91 hits in 223 at-bats. He hit 15 home runs, drove in 55 runs, and struck out only seven times. The consistency was almost mechanical. He got his hit early in most games, but on several occasions he entered his final at-bat without one and delivered under pressure.

The streak ended on July 17 in Cleveland, when Indians third baseman Ken Keltner made two outstanding plays on hard-hit balls down the line and DiMaggio walked once. He went 0-for-3 with a walk. The next day, he started a new hitting streak that lasted 16 games.

No player has come within 12 games of the record since. Pete Rose reached 44 in 1978. The mathematical improbability of the streak has been studied by statisticians who have concluded that it should not have happened at all, based on DiMaggio's career batting average and the laws of probability. It happened anyway.