Reflecting on 56 games that will live forever

On this date 80 years ago, May 15th, 1941, the Chicago White Sox visited Yankee Stadium. The Pale Hose put a beating on the home team, drubbing the Bombers 13-1. The loss marked the fifth straight for the Yanks, dropped them below .500, and put them 6.5 games out of first place. Lost in the wash: a single by Joe DiMaggio that plated New York’s only run.

The Yankee Clipper picked up two hits the next day, kept raking, and two months later, on July 16, the streak finally ended at 56 … “the last magic number in sports,” as sportswriter Kostya Kennedy has described it. The Yankees got hot with him, rolling off streaks of eight and 14 straight wins while Joe swung his mighty bat. Neither looked…