56-Game Hitting Streak

Lore & Background

According to the Official Baseball Rules, a hitting streak is not necessarily ended when a player has at least 1 plate appearance and no hits. A streak shall not be terminated if all official plate appearances result in a base on balls, hit by pitch, defensive interference or a sacrifice bunt. The streak shall terminate if the player has a sacrifice fly and no hit.

In Their Own Story

The air at Comiskey Park hung heavy with humidity and a collective, trembling silence on that July night. The scoreboard flickered, displaying '55'—a number that seemed to mock the very laws of probability. Joe DiMaggio stepped into the batter's box, his white pinstripes stark against the evening shadows, while the Chicago infielders played deep in a desperate shift designed solely to stop him. The pitcher wound up; a sharp crack echoed as DiMaggio fouled off two pitches. On the third, he held firm. One strike away from the end of history. The next pitch screamed high and inside; another foul tip tightened the tension until it snapped. Two strikes. The stadium seemed to hold its breath, leaving only the rhythmic thud of a heartbeat in the ears of the crowd. Then came the pitch: a low slider. DiMaggio didn't hesitate. He leveled his bat, driving a line drive screaming toward right field. It cleared the infield shift and bounced off the wall. The roar that erupted from Comiskey Park was instantaneous, a physical wave of sound that declared 56 games done. But the drama wasn't over; the streak would survive one more night before finally succumbing to the St. Louis Browns' pitching staff at Sportsman's Park.

Reader's Guide

Major League Baseball recognizes two hitting streak records: Longest hitting streak in one season, and longest hitting streak over multiple seasons. DiMaggio's 56-game streak is the single-season record. The probability is .0003 that a .350 hitter will have a hitting streak of at least 56 games in a season. If there are about four such seasons per year in the future, such a streak would be expected, assuming the Bernoulli trials model, every 1/(.0003 x 4) = 833 years.

Did You Know?

• Joe DiMaggio hit .408 during his 56-game streak, with 15 home runs and 55 runs batted in.
• The streak began on May 15 and ended July 16, 1941.
• DiMaggio had a 61-game hitting streak in the Pacific Coast League with the San Francisco Seals, though it is not universally recognized as an official minor league record.