Joe D Set Hitting Streak Mark In D.C.
PLUS: NUMEROUS UNKNOWNS RECEIVE FIRST GOLD GLOVES
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
Although Atlanta’s Alex Anthopoulos usually keeps things close to the vest, he shot himself in the foot when he announced at the GM meetings that Ronald Acuña, Jr. and Spencer Strider won’t be ready when the 2025 season starts — thus raising the price of prospective free agents (and their well-paid agents) and complicating trade negotiations . . .
The Braves took another major hit when top set-up man Joe Jimenez revealed he had knee surgery likely to keep him sidelined for the entire 2025 season . . .
Here we go again time: the Dodgers are moving Mookie Betts back to the infield, probably to second base, and the Cardinals are shifting good-hit, no-field backstop Willson Contreras from catcher to first base . . .
Those two so-called Yankee fans who yanked the glove and arm of Mookie Betts in the first inning of the decisive World Series Game 5 in the Bronx not only deserved a lifetime ban from the ballpark but also prosecution for assault . . .
If Mets first baseman Pete Alonso signs elsewhere, the team has a ready replacement in Mark Vientos, whose play at the other infield corner was often erratic.
Leading Off
On the way to 56 straight, DiMaggio broke the post-1900 record at Griffith Stadium
By Andrew Sharp
As Joe DiMaggio was on his way to hitting in 56 consecutive games, he actually set the 20th century major league record at Griffith Stadium on June 29, 1941, before a capacity crowd of 31,000.
The fans were there to follow DiMaggio's quest during a Senators’ double-header with the Yankees. The American League and post-1900 record going into that game was set by George Sisler of the St. Louis Browns in 1922. Sisler had broken Ty Cobb’s 1911 record of hits in 40 straight games. DiMaggio matched Cobb’s 40 the previous day in Philadelphia.
Against the Senators’ starter, knuckleballer Dutch Leonard, in game one, DiMaggio flied out in his first at-bat and popped out to third base in his second. Up again in the sixth, Joltin’ Joe swung and missed and took a pitch for a ball before drilling a double to the gap in left center, extending his streak to a record-tying 41 games.
New York won the first game of the Griffith Stadium twin bill, 9-5. The double was DiMaggio’s only hit, but he had an RBI on a fly ball and was hit by a pitch.
In the second game, DiMaggio hit another run-scoring fly ball in the first inning and lined to short in the third off starter Sid Hudson. His single off reliever Red Anderson in the seventh extended his hit streak to a record 42 games. He scored when the next batter, Charlie Keller, tripled. DiMaggio was 1-for-5 with that RBI fly in the first as the Yanks won, 7-5.
Run-scoring fly balls counted as times at bat in 1941, as the sacrifice-fly rule was not in effect that season. Had it been, DiMaggio’s 12 RBIs on fly-ball outs would been sacrifice flies, reducing his season’s at-bats from 541 to 529 and raising his average from .357 to .365.
From 1931 to 1953, batters got an RBI and a time at-bat for what previously had been sacrifice flies with no time at-bat and as they have been again since 1954. DiMaggio’s played from 1936 to 1951, so he never had a sac fly in his career. Try that trivia question on someone.
The recognized National League record of hits in 44 straight was set by Wee Willie Keeler of the Baltimore Orioles in the 1897 National League. This is the one Pete Rose of the Reds matched in 1978. Keeler had a hit in the last game in 1896, so his total over two seasons was 45 for those interested in such carry-overs.
DiMaggio tied Keeler’s 44-game record in the second game of a July 1 double-header in New York. Luckily, he singled in the first inning because the game was called because of rain after five innings. During the rain delay, DiMaggio’s favorite bat was stolen from the dugout. The next day, DiMaggio hit a long home run off rookie Dick Newsome of the Red Sox to set a new consecutive game hit record –45 -- with a bat borrowed from Tommy Henrich that was the same weight and length as his own model.
As a war was raging in Europe, “the pursuit of the hitting streak became a national phenomenon and was a common conversation starter on the streets” Jeff Allen Howard wrote for SABR’s Games Project about the day DiMaggio broke Keeler’s record. “People avidly tuned on their radios, looking for updates.”
A digression: Most batting records set after 1893 -- when the pitching distance was set at 60-feet-6-inches – are as legitimate as those achieved after 1900. So Keeler’s 44-game streak deserves to stand, along with Rose’s, as the National League record – with one caveat.
Keeler was an expert at fouling off pitches. Throughout the 1890s, a batter’s first two foul balls that were not bunt attempts did not count as strikes, but starting in 1894, any foul bunt counted as a strike. So the umpire had to determine the batter’s intent, hard to do with Keller, who always choked up a foot on his 30-ounce bat and pounded pitches into the dirt. Individual game records for 1897 are not complete enough to determine if Keller’s streak was kept alive with help of this rule difference.
The Senators were an infrequent opponent of the Yankees during DiMaggio’s streak. On May 27, 28 and 29 in Washington, he had hits in his 12th, 13th and 14th consecutive games. Those last two drew the first mention of the hit streak by New York writers who covered the Yankees. Joe had four hits on the 27th. On May 28, the first night game ever at Griffith Stadium, DiMaggio didn’t get a hit until an eighth inning triple. On May 29, that game was called after five innings because of rain. DiMaggio singled leading off the fourth inning.
The Yankee Clipper went on to hit in 11 more consecutive games after breaking Keeler’s mark. The streak ended at 56 when he was stopped in Cleveland on July 17. Two fine fielding plays by third baseman Ken Keltner robbed DiMaggio on hard-hit balls down the line. Two Cleveland pitchers – Al Smith and Jim Bagby Jr. – were credited with stopping the streak, but the Yankees won the game, 4-3.
The June 29 double-header sweep of the Senators put the Yanks in first place by themselves as New York went on the win the pennant with 101-53-2 record and beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series, four games to one, the first time the two teams met.
DiMaggio won the A.L. MVP award, despite Ted Williams hitting .406. Neither the 56-game streak nor the .400 average has been equaled since.
Andrew C. Sharp is a retired newspaper journalist and a SABR member who has written and edited for the Bio Project and Games Project. He lives in central New Jersey but grew up as a Senators’ fan and blogs about D.C baseball at washingtonbaseballhistory.com
Cleaning Up
Managers, SABR Analysis Determine 2024 Gold Glove Winners
By Dan Schlossberg
The final game of the Dodgers-Yankees World Series proved without doubt that defense is important.
Good-fielding teams, such as the Cleveland Guardians and Arizona Diamondbacks, win more than their share despite weaknesses in other areas.
And bad-fielding teams can lose games at critical moments, as the Yankees showed in the fifth inning of the last game when three two-out misplays led to five unearned runs — and eventual loss of game and Series.
Fielders seldom get the credit they deserve, which is why the Rawlings Gold Glove awards are so essential.
The winners — many of whom are not household names — were selected by a group of managers, coaches and statistical analyists.
Twenty-five per cent of the selection total was determined by SABR’s Defensive Index metrics, while the other 75 per cent was determined by votes from all 30 managers and up to six coaches from each team. The utility Gold Glove was determined in a separate fashion, via a defensive formula calculated by SABR and Rawlings.
Kudos to the 2024 recipients:
National League winners
Catcher: Patrick Bailey (1st Gold Glove)…..Finalists: Gabriel Moreno, Will Smith
First base: Christian Walker (3rd)…..Finalists: Bryce Harper, Matt Olson
Second base: Brice Turang (1st)…..Finalists: Ketel Marte, Bryson Stott
Third base: Matt Chapman, (5th)…..Finalists: Nolan Arenado, Ryan McMahon
Shortstop: Ezequiel Tovar (1st)…..Finalists: Dansby Swanson, Masyn Winn
Left field: Ian Happ (3rd)…..Finalists: Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Brandon Marsh
Center field: Brenton Doyle (2nd)…..Finalists: Blake Perkins, Jacob Young
Right field: Sal Frelick (1st)…..Finalists: Jake McCarthy, Mike Yastrzemski
Pitcher: Chris Sale (1st)…..Finalists: Luis Severino, Zack Wheeler
Utility: Jared Triolo (1st)…..Finalists: Brendan Donovan, Enrique Hernandez
American League winners
Catcher: Cal Raleigh (1st)…..Finalists: Freddy Fermin, Jake Rogers
First base: Carlos Santana (1st)…..Finalists: Nathaniel Lowe, Ryan Mountcastle
Second base: Andres Gimenez (3rd)…..Finalists: Nicky Lopez, Marcus Semien
Third base: Alex Bregman (1st)…..Finalists: Ernie Clement, Jose Ramirez
Shortstop: Bobby Witt Jr. (1st)…..Finalists: Brayan Rocchio, Anthony Volpe
Left field: Steven Kwan (3rd)…..Finalists: Colton Cowser, Alex Verdugo
Center field: Daulton Varsho (1st)…..Finalists: Jarren Duran, Jake Meyers
Right field: Wilyer Abreu (1st)…..Finalists: Jo Adell, Juan Soto
Pitcher: Seth Lugo (1st)…..Finalists: Griffin Canning, Cole Ragans
Utility: Dylan Moore (1st)…..Finalists: Willi Castro, Mauricio Dubon
Here’s The Pitch weekend editor Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ is the author of two Hank Aaron biographies 50 years apart plus collaborations with Ron Blomberg, Al Clark, and Milo Hamilton. His email is ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia
Shohei Ohtani and Babe Ruth are the only major-leaguers with 100 homers as a hitter and 250 strikeouts as a pitcher. The only other Japanese natives to reach triple digits in home runs were Hideki Matsui and Ichiro Suzuki . . .
Ohtani hit 100 mph in both hitting and pitching while with the Angels on April 4, 2021; after reaching 100 three times as a pitcher in the top of the first inning, he hit a home run with an exit speed of 115.2 miles per hour in the home half . . .
Ohtani’s opposite-field grand slam against the Rays on May 9, 2022 was his first as a professional, including five years with the Nippon Ham Fighters before reaching the Los Angeles Angels in 2018 . . .
On Sept. 5, 2018, the same day the Angels announced Ohtani needed Tommy John elbow surgery, the two-way star delivered four hits, including two home runs.
Know Your Editors
HERE’S THE PITCH is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles Monday and Tuesday editions, Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] does Wednesday and Thursday, and Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com] edits the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HTP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.