Great article on Joe DiMaggio’s hitting streak — not the 56-game streak, but the professional-record 61-game streak he had in the Pacific Coast League in 1933 (link via Clutch Hits). What’s particularly impressive is that the streak started when Joe D. was basically a nobody, a right fielder batting .250 two months into his first professional season and playing in the best minor league in the country. 70 years ago today was his coming-out – DiMaggio had gone 1-4 on May 28 in the second game of a doubleheader, but May 30 was the turning point:
DiMaggio went 6-for-10 — with a double, triple and home run — in a doubleheader in Seattle. In those days, a series was a week-long affair, and DiMaggio recorded multiple-hit games in four of the Seals’ next five against Seattle.
A star was born.
One thing that almost certainly made the streak easier, especially for a raw rookie, was the PCL’s practice of 7-game serieses, which meant seeing the same starting pitchers twice in a week.
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If you haven’t read it, you really ought to pick up the Pulitzer winning DiMaggio biography by that Cranmer gent, “A Hero’s Life.” Spectacular book, hits the euphoric highs along with the warts-and-all lows. Avoids hagiographical syrup that would be so easy to lurch into with a guy like Joe.
Let’s just say that Joe’s lawyer doesn’t come off to well at the end there. I think litigation may have been filed as a result of the portrayal of that esteemed barrister.