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Monday marks the 76th anniversary of the beginning of Joe DiMaggio’s record 56-game hitting streak, which ran from May 15 to July 16, 1941. On July 17, he went 0-for-3 for the New York Yankees against the Indians, with third baseman Ken Keltner making two nifty plays to thwart the streak. Let’s take a look at the streak by the numbers: .408: DiMaggio hit .408 (91-for-223) during the streak with 15 home runs and 55 RBIs. .375: He entered May 15 (the first game of the streak) with a .306 batting average. That rose to .375 after the July 16 game, the final game of the streak. 4: DiMaggio faced four future Hall of Fame pitchers: Lefty Grove, Hal Newhouser, Bob Feller and Ted Lyons. 10: DiMaggio extended the streak in his final plate appearance 10 times, as Elias research notes. 54: DiMaggio faced 54 pitchers during the streak. For comparison, Jackie Bradley Jr. faced 65 pitchers during his season-high 29-game streak last year. 41-13: The Yankees went 41-13 during the streak (two ties). Entering May 15, the Yankees were 14-14, 5½ games behind the Indians for the American League lead. On the final day of the streak, they were 55-27, with a six-game lead over second-place Cleveland. 16:DiMaggio started a 16-game hitting streak the game after the 56-game one ended. So he hit in 72 of 73 games total. In those 73 games, he had 120 hits, 20 home runs and six strikeouts. 44: The longest hitting streak since DiMaggio’s is a 44-gamer by Pete Rose in 1978. 29: The longest hitting streak by a Yankees player since DiMaggio’s streak ended is a 29-gamer by Hall of Famer Joe Gordon in 1942. Derek Jeter’s longest hitting streak was 25 games in 2006. Don Mattingly’s longest was 24 in 1986. Those are the three longest for the Yankees since DiMaggio. 19: DiMaggio’s longest hitting streak after the streak was 19 games in 1950. He never had a 20-game hitting streak after his 56-gamer. 61: DiMaggio actually had one hitting streak earlier and longer than 56: He hit in 61 straight games in 1933 as a member of the Pacific Coast League's San Francisco Seals, the second-longest hitting streak in minor league history. Mark Simon also contributed to this story
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