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Game 19: June 2, 1941

It was back to work for most Cleveland residents. The crowd of 52,240 of the day before shrank to less than 6,000 for the Monday game.

Despite Bob Feller on the mound, that twin bill setback might have hung heavy over the heads of the local fans.

Regardless, those in attendance would see a dandy. Sure, Feller won. He ran his record to 10-2 and pitched a complete game.

But the Yankees, nonetheless, took with them a feeling of accomplishment.

Seven hits—including two Tommy Heinrich homers—and four walks were worked by the Yanks in the 7-5 loss. Rapid Robert fanned “only” six. Joe DiMaggio doubled and singled in four trips, scoring twice.

Looking back at the 1941 season, Frankie Crosetti remembered Cleveland’s old League Park fondly:

“It was one of the places where Joe, and even me, seemed to hit well. Part of that place, I think, is still there. It was one of those great neighborhood parks—like Wrigley and Fenway.”

Crosetti, who talked about the park more than 20 years ago, was correct. In fact, the League Park Society today works to bring the old field back to life.

In 1891, when the Cleveland club was the Spiders of the National League, Cy Young threw the first pitch at the new facility at 66^th Street and Lexington Avenue.

Tris Speaker, Babe Ruth, Feller and DiMaggio were some of the Hall of Famers with a stake in the park’s history.

League Park was home to the Indians through 1946, but the old ball field was never demolished—not completely.

In February of this year, Cleveland city officials approved a plan to restore what stands of the 120-year-old ballpark (a section of the brick facade along the first-base side and the old ticket office behind what was the right field corner).

A Cleveland spokesperson says League Park renovation will be finished next year.

Still used as a playground and recreational ball diamond, League Park promises to bring back hallowed visions of days gone by.

Games in which Babe Ruth hit his 500^th home run or the shadow of Tribe third baseman Ken Keltner making two outstanding plays on July 17, 1941, ending a young Italian legend’s hitting streak at 56.

JoeDiMaggio.com is the official and authorized Web site of Joe DiMaggio. During the 70th anniversary of DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak, it is publishing “Reliving Joe DiMaggio’s Streak,” which follows the daily progress of Joltin’ Joe in 1941. Series Archive

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Game 31: June 18, 1941

Early in the Wednesday afternoon game of June 18, 1941, Joe DiMaggio’s deceiving speed helped him leg out an undisputed infield hit against the White Sox. The Streak now stood at 31 games.

While journalists were still murmuring about whether or not Joltin’ Joe’s previous day’s hit off (over?) the shoulder (chest?) of shortstop Luke Appling was legitimate or not, the Yankees were trying to subdue this pesky Chicago club.

Trailing 3-2 into the bottom of the eighth, Sox pitcher Thornton Lee was trying to correct course after a two-game losing streak. He was dodging bullet after bullet (the Yankees would leave 10 men on base this day).

With one out and one on, DiMaggio came to the plate. Keep the ball away, Lee thought. The big lefty was tiring. Don’t give him anything to hit, he urged himself.

Taking a little walk behind the mound, Lee collected himself. New York’s horrid, humid summer months were at hand, and this steamy afternoon hinted at what was ahead come July. Sopping wet was Lee’s flannel uniform. The 10,000 or so in attendance were anxious.

DiMaggio had to go, one way or another, Lee knew. A free pass to Joe wouldn’t be the end of the world.

DiMaggio used to say the difference between him and Ted Williams as hitters was that the Boston outfielder “was willing to take his walks, regardless of score or situation…I always swung, trying to win ballgames.”

It didn’t have to be a strike for DiMaggio to work his magic.

Now would be a terrific time for a jolt from Joe.

Lee rocked and fired.

Another sphere, thrown with the intent to walk Joe, was too close to the Yankee Clipper’s reach. DiMaggio’s bat swiftly glided toward the pitch and sent a towering drive to right.

Sox fielder Taffy Wright had to jump on his horse. By accounts in Big Apple newspapers, the ball was headed into the stands. But Wright made a fine running catch, Red Rolfe scrambled back to first and Lee survived the next four outs to win, 3-2.

Lucky to reach on a scratch hit earlier, DiMaggio was “robbed” of the chance to win the game later.

DiMaggio said later in life, “I pretty much felt it all evened out on the streak.”

JoeDiMaggio.com is the official and authorized Web site of Joe DiMaggio. During the 70th anniversary of DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak, it is publishing “Reliving Joe DiMaggio’s Streak,” which follows the daily progress of Joltin’ Joe in 1941. Series Archive

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Game 30: June 17, 1941

ABC News was still talking about it seven decades later. Sporting News columnists from time to time write about that “single” on June 17, 1941, at Yankee Stadium.

The Walrus, a Canadian publication stirred the pot eight years after Joe DiMaggio died in 1999. And Kostya Kennedy’s book 56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports devotes a whole chapter to that ground ball: “Everybody Needs A Little Luck.”

So, about this hit extending The Streak to 30 straight—what’s so controversial?

DiMaggio was 0-for-3 when he stepped to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning that Tuesday afternoon.

Chicago led 7-5.

The sparse crowd of 10,442 now held its collective breath. Would this be the end?

In what would be his final at-bat of the game, DiMaggio hit a grounder toward shortstop. Hall of Famer Luke Appling ranged to his left, glove down. Suddenly, the ball came up on Appling. Of that, the world is certain.

What happened next has been debated, written about and rewritten about for 70 years.

According to one newspaper report, the ball hit Appling in the shoulder as DiMaggio made a beeline for safety. Another newspaper said the ball “took a bad bounce over the shortstop’s shoulder.”

With DiMaggio standing at first, Yankee players and the crowd looked toward the press box, waiting to see what official scorer Dan Daniel would call it.

Daniel, a scribe for the World-Telegram, happened also to be the Baseball Writers’ Association president at the time. He was well regarded. At age 51, he’d been around baseball as a reporter for 30 years.

After a painful wait came the signal from Daniel: “Hit,” he flashed as the crowd roared.

First-base coach Earle Combs (co-holder of the old mark with Cleveland manager Roger Peckinpaugh) was standing with DiMaggio when Daniel ruled the grounder a hit. He slapped Joe on the rear and graciously gave him an “atta boy.”

Reports say that DiMaggio didn’t acknowledge the ovation. Stone-faced, he took his lead. Second base was his next objective. There still was a game to win.

DiMaggio came home on a Charlie Keller home run, but the Yankees ultimately fell, 8-7—ending an eight-game New York winning streak.

Joe’s streak, however, had reached 30—a new Yankee record.

JoeDiMaggio.com is the official and authorized Web site of Joe DiMaggio. During the 70th anniversary of DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak, it is publishing “Reliving Joe DiMaggio’s Streak,” which follows the daily progress of Joltin’ Joe in 1941. Series Archive

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Game 13: May 28, 1941

“I have tonight issued a proclamation that an unlimited national emergency exists and requires the strengthening of our defense to the extreme limit of our national power and authority,” came the message from President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Most of the players gathering at the ballpark had heard most of the FDR’s speech the night before on radio.

But the morning papers in Washington were putting in perspective exactly what the president meant.

The Yankees and Senators had a lot of time to digest the news—on May 28, their contest was supposed to be special: the first night game at Griffith Stadium.

But the topic of discussion at breakfast revolved around the United States’ potential entry into the war in Europe.

Some players pondered the ugly truth: soon they’d be enlisted to the military.

After all, the draft was already in place. Detroit superstar Hank Greenberg was the first big name snatched from a roster. Could the Smiths and Joneses of Major League Baseball be far behind?

Roosevelt’s speech made America’s involvement in the European conflict sound imminent.

But first things first—there was a ballgame at hand. More than 25,000 fans came to see the great Walter Johnson throw out the first pitch. A beam of light at home plate would supposedly be broken by the Big Train’s pitch, activating the lights at cavernous Griffith Stadium.

Johnson’s ceremonial heave was close enough (a technician somewhere in the hidden confines of the park threw a switch). Voila! The Senators’ first night game.

Pesky Sid Hudson was on the mound for the Solons. Having an earned run average at 4.43 was miraculous, considering the sieve of a defense that labored behind him.

Hudson held a 3-0 lead until DiMaggio tripled and scored in the sixth.

Going into the eighth, Hudson held sway with one out, but Charlie Keller’s pinch-hit grand slam proved the difference in a come-from-behind 6-5 win.

Still, Roosevelt’s words were ringing throughout the nation.

“There are some timid ones among us who say that we must preserve peace at any price, lest we lose our liberties forever,” the president had said. “To them I say this: never in the history of the world has a nation lost its democracy by a successful struggle to defend its democracy.”

The president reiterated a line from his 1932 inaugural speech:

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

Hitler and first-place Cleveland now worried about the Yanks closing in.

JoeDiMaggio.com is the official and authorized Web site of Joe DiMaggio. During the 70th anniversary of DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak, it is publishing “Reliving Joe DiMaggio’s Streak,” which follows the daily progress of Joltin’ Joe in 1941 Series Archive.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Reliving Joe DiMaggio’s Streak: Game 7, May 21, 1941 

In a 5-4 victory over the visiting Detroit Tigers, Joe DiMaggio could have had a huge day—a huge in day in almost any ballpark, except Yankee Stadium.

Two singles in five trips were enough to drive in the winning run and raise the Yankee Clipper’s average to .325. The Streak was now at a modest seven games.

But the unforgiving dimensions of Yankee Stadium cost Joe on this day—as it would on many other afternoons throughout his career.

Hitters needed a bus transfer to reach the center field fence, some 461 feet away. Then there was the left-center power alley, 457 feet from home plate. With straightaway left measured at 415 feet, a right-handed hitter—like DiMaggio—needed to launch a missile to hit a homer.

Pat Mullin, a journeyman center fielder for the Tigers, made two catches of deep DiMaggio drives—one nestled up against the fence.

Few players in baseball history were hurt as much by his home park configuration as was DiMaggio. (If you tracked all of his “outs” to center, left and left-center field and then placed these hit balls in the current Yankee Stadium. The result: 750-plus home runs.)

He hit .315 with 148 home runs in Yankee Stadium. On the road, his average was .333 with 213 homers. No major league player with 300 or more career home runs hit as high a percentage on the road.

Two hundred miles away, in Boston, Ted Williams was almost as challenged by Fenway Park.

Williams, a left-handed hitter, dealt with a power alley in right center that ranged from 380 to 420 feet. He also smacked more circuit clouts on the road than at home—273 on the road, 248 at home. Williams’ average at home, however, was a torrid .361 (.328 away from Fenway).

Had DiMaggio played at Fenway, the left-center field fence would have been an inviting 379 feet from the plate. Williams, at Yankee Stadium, would have had that short right-field porch at which Babe Ruth aimed all those years.

The discussion reverberated among fans and in newspapers about how much more effective the two sluggers might have been had they played in each others’ park—so much so that in 1947, Boston Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey and Yankees general manager Larry MacPhail had agreed to trade DiMaggio for Williams.

The deal, to the relief of most Yankees fans, fell through. The reason? MacPhail refused to “throw in” a rookie catcher—Yogi Berra.

JoeDiMaggio.com is the official and authorized Web site of Joe DiMaggio. During the 70th anniversary of DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak, it is publishing “Reliving Joe DiMaggio’s Streak,” which follows the daily progress of Joltin’ Joe in 1941 Series Archive.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com