Sports History On This Day: July 17

July 17, 1941 – All good things must come to an end. That was truly the case on this date as Yankees fans witnessed the end of Joe DiMaggio’s pretty awesome 56-game hitting streak in Cleveland against the Indians. The streak started without much fanfare back on May 15, 1941, when DiMaggio singled off of White Sox left-hander Eddie Smith in a game the Yankees ultimately lost, 13-1.

The Yanks went a game below .500, but the best was yet to come for Jumpin Joe and the Yanks. On July 16, he extended the streak to 56 games with a three-hit performance against this same Cleveland team in a 10-3 victory for New York. Perhaps he used up all of his allotted hits in that contest because on the 17th, well the Cleveland pitching staff shut him down.

All DiMaggio could muster was two hard groundouts, a walk, and a double play later, and so Joe had ended a game without a hit for the first time in two months and two days.