World War II Chronicle: June 19, 1941

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At the bottom of the front page we see Joe DiMaggio on the list of baseball players that hit home runs today. DiMaggio treated the Yankee Stadium fans to a 3-for-3 slug fest off Chicago White Sox hurlers Eddie Smith and Buck Ross. DiMaggio has now reached base in 32 consecutive games, which incidentally began on May 15 against Eddie Smith. The Yankee center fielder had already singled twice and reached base on a walk by the eighth inning, when he took Ross’ pitch for a ride into the left field stands.

Major League Baseball’s Longest Hitting Streaks (as of June 19, 1941)

1	Willie Keeler	45	1896-97
2	Bill Dahlen	42	1894
3	George Sisler	41	1922
4	Ty Cobb	40	1911
5	Gene DeMontreville	36	1896-97
6	Fred Clarke	35	1895
	Ty Cobb	35	1917
	George Sisler	35	1924-25
7	George McQuinn	34	1938
8	George Davis	33	1893
	Hal Chase	33	1907
	Rogers Hornsby	33	1922
9	Joe DiMaggio	32	1941
	Harry Heilmann	32	1922-23

“He can run, but he can’t hide.”

Across town, the heavyweight title fight between Joe Louis and Billy Conn was very nearly an upset. The Pittsburgh Kid may have weighed 25 pounds less than Louis, but he owned the match for 12 rounds in the biggest boxing match at the Polo Grounds since the Jack Dempsey era.

Conn would joke later about the fight, saying he asked the champ, “‘Hey, Joe, why didn’t you just let me have the title for six months?’ And you know what Joe said back to me? He said, ‘I let you have it for twelve rounds, and you couldn’t keep it. How could I let you have it for six months?'”

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Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), 19 June 1941. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1941-06-19/ed-1/