HARVEY FROMMER
ON SPORTS

 

 THE RECORD 45TH GAME OF JOE DIMAGGIO'S 56- GAME- STREAK, July 2, 1941

On the first day of July 1941, Joe DiMaggio tied the 43-year-old record of Wee Willie Keeler by hitting safely in both games of a doubleheader against the Red Sox. The Yankee Clipper had rapped out at least one hit in 44 straight games.

    On July 2, the Yankees again faced the Red Sox. Joe DiMaggio was intent on getting a hit in his 45th straight game and setting a new major league record at Yankee Stadium.

     Dom DiMaggio, Joe's bespectacled younger brother, was stationed in his normal position for the Red Sox, centerfield.  Joe had invited him to dinner that evening at his home.

    In his first at bat against Boston pitcher Herber Newsome, DiMaggio smashed a long drive that was flagged down by Stan Spence.  Joe Dee swung a bit more forcefully his second  time up and drove the ball to center field. Breaking at top speed as soon as he heard the crack of his older brother's bat against the ball, Dom ran  it down and made a dramatic catch to rob his brother of an extra base hit. The two brothers rarely showed emotion on the baseball field, but looking at each other this time from inside their Yankee and Red Sox uniforms, they showed how they felt.

    "It was a great catch," Joe recalled, "one of the best Dom had ever made. I was tempted at that point to withdraw the dinner invitation for the evening."

    In his third turn at bat, with two teammates on bases, hungering for a hit, Joe took no chances. He belted the ball into the seats for what would be one of the 30 home runs he would hit that historic 1941 season. He had the record, and it had come against arch-rival Boston.

    The New York Yankees centerfielder and the Boston centerfielder dined that evening. "While Dom lapped up my steak and ate my spaghetti," Joe mused, "he had the audacity to tell me, 'You know, Joe, I couldn't have gone another inch for that ball.'"

Harvey Frommer is now in his 32nd consecutive year of writing sports books. He is the author of 38 sports books, including the classics: "New York City Baseball," "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," "Rickey and Robinson," "A Yankee Century," and Red Sox Vs. Yankees: The Great Rivalry" (with Frederic J. Frommer). His newest efforts are OLD TIME BASEBALL and WHERE HAVE ALL THE RED SOX GONE?
He is now at work on the definitive book on the 1927 Yankees to be published in 2007.

Frommer sports books are available direct from the author - discounted and autographed.

FROMMER SPORTSNET (syndicated) reaches a readership in excess of 750,000 and appears on Internet search engines for extended periods of time.

 

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