56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports

“The era, the ballplayer and the record are all laid out beautifully. . . . The tension of the times is matched by the pressure of the streak.” —San Francisco Chronicle

It was the baseball season of 1941, and with Babe Ruth retired and Lou Gehrig ailing, the Yankees weren’t playing like the Yankees anymore. The team seemed vulnerable—just like the rest of the world, as war loomed and an American military draft seemed imminent. Even Joe DiMaggio, the Yankee Clipper himself, was in a slump.

T...