56 it is

CLEVELAND, OHIO - The Cleveland Indians put an end to Joe DiMaggio's consecutive games hitting streak on this date in 1941, making 56 an iconic number in baseball lore. The streak had captivated the nation for several weeks, and drew 67,468 fans (at the time a record for a night-game) to Cleveland Municipal Stadium on a Thursday night to watch the New York Yankee slugger try to extend his streak.

It was stopped at the hands of two relatively unknown Cleveland pitchers, left-hander Al Smith and right-hander Jim Bagby, and all-star third baseman Ken Keltner who made two dazzling plays to rob DiMaggio of hits. Had Keltner not made those plays we could very well be talking about a 73 game hitting streak. After going hitless on July 17th, DiMaggio went on hitting in 16 more consecutive games.

The streak started quietly in Chicago on May 15th. Interest intensified as "Joltin Joe" reached 30 consecutive games and grew into an obsession for many fans when he passed Wee Willie Keeler's 44 games hit streak on July 2nd and just kept on going. Remarkably, DiMaggio didn't just break Keeler's record he smashed by 12 games.

How remarkable is DiMaggio's record? To this day no one has surpassed Wee Willie Keeler's second place mark... except DiMaggio.

Consecutive game hit leaders:
Joe DiMaggio 56
Wee Willie Keeler 44
Pete Rose 44
Bill Dahlen 42
George Sisler 41
Ty Cobb 40
Paul Molitor 39
Jimmy Rollins 38
Tommy Holmes 37
Fred Clarke 35
Luis Castillo 35
Chase Utley 35

Contributing sources:
The Associated Press, July 18, 1941

Consecutive games with at least one hit